2. start with… PURPOSE OF DATA DISPLAYS. ALL OF THEM. The reason for these displays—rather then just putting numbers in your paragraphs—is to help your readers VISUALIZE info. PURPOSE OF YOUR DISPLAY? What do you hope to prove with this data? How will looking at the data visually help make your point? What’s the most crucial point you need to convey with the particular data display you’re working on? As always, purpose needs to be considered:

3. represent complex data in columns and rows or as an underlying grid to arrange information tables

4. show pieces of a whole; represent percentages Figure 2: Leading Causes of Death for Youth and Adults (2003) pie charts

7. used to represent one data group simple bar charts

10. used to represent more than one data group complex bar charts

13. used to plot interval data line graphs

15. used to plot data points scatter plots

17. follow spatial contours; used to geographically/spatially represent data data maps

19. data represented by pictures pictograms or pictographs

23. bad, bad data displays labels are almost impossible to read arrangement of information makes no sense

24. just because you can does not mean you should… 3D effects and arrangement completely obscure information flattened text is difficult to read and associate with the data

25. pie charts are used to show percentages, but there are no percentages here size of pies makes it difficult to interpret data

26. bar chart is absolutely unnecessary scale is too large for data displayed

27. different types of plot lines (i.e., black line and red line) not explained equations clutter the chart is “Surveyor vs. RIPE” the title of the chart? if so, it should be in a different font face and size from the axis labels > there’s no contrast here to cue us in

28. too much data!

29. how to lie with data displays large scales hide changes

30. drastic scaling emphases changes

31. level of detail can obscure or reveal important information

32. good, descriptive labels are crucial to reveal meaning and purpose

33. certain formatting options can visually overemphasize information

34. MONTUEWEDTHUFRISATSUN coffee35109299 24 Soft drinks 34432434 37 Fruit juice 3430394342012 water423515 343935 Matching graph to purpose Some data: Weekly Beverage Consumption

35. While this does show change across time, it gives us little visual info. It doesn't really serve any purpose

36. If the purpose of the data is to reveal trends in overall consumption, a pie chart is inappropriate. It should only be used to reveal percentages

37. if the data is supposed to compare consumption across the week, a bar chart would work best

38. This kind of bar chart, however, shows both a comparison of percentages and consumption across time. The most information can be determined from this chart.

39. 1.launch Microsoft Word 1.in a new document, select Insert  Picture  Chart 1.create displays for the data you have decided on from the data sets online 2.Open the data entry table and enter your data; the chart will automatically be created as a bar chart. 3.Click on the “chart type” icon. Choose the appropriate chart type. creating data displays

40. anatomy of a chart

41. X Axis - If you have non- numerical data, it goes here Be sure the legend is visible Title should be large and comprehensive Y Axis – always numerical

42. Last Thoughts While this may seem like a relatively simple set of tasks, it really is harder than one might think. It also is more time consuming that you might think. Take advantage of class time!! refer back to this PowerPoint to make sure you’re using the correct display for your data make sure to title and label your data displays appropriately (Word, Excel, and whatever other applications you use might provide some template/help with this, but you might have to access deeper features to add labels not default-offered by the application)