How (not) to present dataPaula Surridge

School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies

University of Bristol

Good graphs should: Convey the data visually without the need for further

explanation

Be appropriate for the type of data

Have appropriate scales and labels

Be as simple as possible to convey the data Avoid 3D effects and complex colour schemes Just because Excel can do it doesn’t mean you should do it

Presenting data using graphs

Bad pie chart: Example 1

Source: http://www.researchwallofshame.com/

Bad pie chart: Example 2

Based on an actual pie chart used by a Fox TV station in the USA. See http://flowingdata.com/2009/11/26/fox-news-makes-the-best-pie-chart-ever/

Voting intentions

PALIN70%

ROMNEY60%

HUCKA-BEE63%

Bad bar chart

[Graph removed for copyright reasons. Original on page 17 of “The social situation in the European Union 2005-2006” The European Commission]

Example: Good column chart

Highe

r pro

fess

iona

l

Lower

pro

fess

iona

l

Inte

rmed

iate

Lower

sup

ervi

sory

Routin

e

Other

40

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Intention to remain in full-time education by social class, 2005

Social Class

Perc

enta

ge

Higher professionalLower professional

IntermediateLower supervisory

RoutineOther4

80

82

84

86

88

90

92

94

Intention to remain in full-time education by social class, 2005

Social Class

Perc

enta

ge

Reading Bryman, A. (2008) Social Research Methods De Vaus, D. (1996) Surveys in Social Research

Bad graphs examples: http://flowingdata.com/category/statistics/mistaken-data/ http://www.researchwallofshame.com/

Data used for tables and charts: Social Trends 39 British Social Attitudes Survey 2007

Sources and further reading