Friday, September 3, 2010
Circle of Strife
Reputable publications must cease and desist using circle graphs immediately.
Our brains can do a decent job of deciding which circle is bigger. But, we’re hopeless in estimating by how much area something is larger or smaller. A bar graph can accomplish much more.
A reasonable counter argument pertains to aesthetics. Circle graphs might be more pleasing to look at. If this is the case, why use graphs at all? Toss out the quantifiers and stick to qualifiers (ex. The African-American population is much larger than the Native American population).
for that matter, why not "African Americans > Native Americans"
.
Our brains can do a decent job of deciding which circle is bigger. But, we’re hopeless in estimating by how much area something is larger or smaller. A bar graph can accomplish much more.
A reasonable counter argument pertains to aesthetics. Circle graphs might be more pleasing to look at. If this is the case, why use graphs at all? Toss out the quantifiers and stick to qualifiers (ex. The African-American population is much larger than the Native American population).
for that matter, why not "African Americans > Native Americans"
.
Labels: A statistician a journalist and a Times subscriber walk into a bar graph…
¶ 1:08 AM
