That’s a terrible chart

[n2doc]

by PZ Myers

I wish I’d had this a few weeks ago, when I was telling students how not to present their data. This is a chart illustrating the effects of stand-your-ground-laws on murder in Florida.



I glanced at that and thought, “Whoa, surprise: the stand-your-ground-laws had a pretty dramatic effect in reducing murder. I did not expect that at all.”

And then I was a bit disappointed: “But they really should have set the Y axis at zero. It’s a bit misleading and magnifies the apparent effect, otherwise.”

And then I did a double-take: “They inverted the freaking Y axis!”

more

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/04/15/thats-a-terrible-chart/

[Proud Public Servant]

1. Holy crap! That's really egregious.

Even by the standards of right-wing gun nuts.

[truebluegreen]

2. Breathtaking dishonesty,

making it look like gun deaths fell when actually they soared, reversing a falling trend.

I am tired of saying "Inconceivable!"...with these people the word has become meaningless.

[Stargazer09]

3. Wow

That has to be one of the worst charts I've ever seen. It completely misrepresents the data.

[LondonReign2]

5. That is the exact intent

[Stargazer09]

6. I know

Pretty disgusting. But considering how important guns are to people like that, I am not surprised.

[LondonReign2]

4. Yeah, that has nothing to do with

how not to present your data. That is not an error, or poorly thought out, it is data presented in a manner that effectively executes its purpose -- to deceive.

[Doctor_J]

7. Coming soon to Fox "News"

and, the next day, half of America will believe the opposite of what's true

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. Wow.

I admit, I was duped as well.

Whose chart was that?

[siligut]

10. It says "Florida Department of Law Enforcement".

For the statistics but certainly for not this purposely misleading graph.

[Skinner]

9. That is a terrible chart. But it's worth noting that the designer claims that...

...she inverted the chart to make it look like dripping blood. She claims she wasn't trying to deceive. Click the tweet to see an Iraq graphic that was her inspiration:

https://twitter.com/ChristineHHChan/status/455971685783441408

https://twitter.com/ChristineHHChan

[Ms. Toad]

12. Hope she doesn't want to (or do) this kind of thing for a living...

The chart which inspired hers is clear - by the title, if nothing else: "Iraq's Bloody Toll." Not to mention that with its more refined view along the x-axis the bars more closely resemble blood because there are so many discrete drips.

Really bad implementation of a fairly good idea.

ETA: Ooooh....scary....by her Twitter description she apparently does this for a living.

[FSogol]

13. I'm sure Fox News needs someone to make their dishonest, misleading graphics.

[Ms. Toad]

14. Except that her heart seems to be in the right place -

it is just her execution that is really lousy.

[rrneck]

11. These might be a little better...

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/content/fsac/menu/crime-trends/violent-crime.aspx

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

15. lol That was my first thought. What a stupid (way to present data) graph!

[JoeyT]

16. It's even worse for using two different terms

that have different meanings at the top. Are we looking at gun deaths or murders? Gun deaths include legal self defense and usually suicide. Murders don't.

I'm guessing it's probably either gun deaths or a hybrid of the two - If it was murder, the rate would've dropped precipitously once they legalized murder. So it's probably all gun deaths excluding suicide.