Gosh, so true! No sure which is worse this or cherry picking data.
HenryBowman419
10 years ago
It's not the best way to present data, for sure, but at least the actual numbers are presented on the top of each bar. Sometimes I see similar charts that show a y-axis without any numbers. Such charts are utterly meaningless, of course.
A couple of years ago I read a Krugman column in which he attempted to make the case that the U.S. income tax system was regressive rather than [highly] progressive. He provided a histogram in his column to support his argument. A quick glance at the histogram seemed to provide ammo for his assertions. However, close inspection revealed that Krugman changed the width of each bar on the his histogram in a way to support his argument. Looking at the actual numbers, his argument was invalid.
Gosh, so true! No sure which is worse this or cherry picking data.
It's not the best way to present data, for sure, but at least the actual numbers are presented on the top of each bar. Sometimes I see similar charts that show a y-axis without any numbers. Such charts are utterly meaningless, of course.
A couple of years ago I read a Krugman column in which he attempted to make the case that the U.S. income tax system was regressive rather than [highly] progressive. He provided a histogram in his column to support his argument. A quick glance at the histogram seemed to provide ammo for his assertions. However, close inspection revealed that Krugman changed the width of each bar on the his histogram in a way to support his argument. Looking at the actual numbers, his argument was invalid.