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Howie’s Helpful Hints. Don’t show the data Show as little data as possible Hide what data you do show Show the data inaccurately Ignore the visual metaphor Only order matters Obfuscate the data Change scales mid-axis Emphasise the trivial Jiggle the baseline Austria first! - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Howie’s Helpful Hints
Howie’s Helpful Hints
Don’t show the data1. Show as little data as possible2. Hide what data you do show
Show the data inaccurately3. Ignore the visual metaphor4. Only order matters
Obfuscate the data5. Change scales mid-axis6. Emphasise the trivial7. Jiggle the baseline8. Austria first!9. Label illegibly, incompletely, incorrectly10. Make it 3D!
Adapted from Wainer, H. (1997) Visual Revelations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers,.
Howie’s Helpful Hints
1. Show as little data as possible
Howie’s Helpful Hints
2. Hide what data you do show
Mortality Risk Ratio (95% CI) derived from Cox's Proportional Hazards model amongst FHILL cohorts by ethnicity and locality
00.20.40.60.8
11.2
Greeks inGreece
Greeks inAustraliaP=0.0001
Anglo-Celts in
AustraliaP=0.056
Swedes inSwedenP=0.0001
Japanesein JapanP=0.0008
FHILL cohorts
Ris
k R
ati
o (
RR
)
LowerUpperRisk Ratio
Source: PhD thesis, Monash University
Howie’s Helpful Hints
Clearer version:
0.10 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00
Greeks in Australia
Swedes in Sweden
Japanese in Japan
Anglo-Celts in Australia
Greeks in Greece
Relative mortality rate (all causes)
Drawn using S-plus
Howie’s Helpful Hints
What’s the difference?
Rotated by 90o – labels fit & can be read Logarithmic scale – correct for ratio measure Removed grid lines, background, legend Ordered categories by response variable Monochrome emphasises data, not
decoration
Mortality Risk Ratio (95% CI) derived from Cox's Proportional Hazards model amongst FHILL cohorts by ethnicity and locality
00.20.40.60.8
11.2
Greeks inGreece
Greeks inAustraliaP=0.0001
Anglo-Celts in
AustraliaP=0.056
Swedes inSwedenP=0.0001
Japanesein JapanP=0.0008
FHILL cohorts
Ris
k R
ati
o (
RR
)
LowerUpperRisk Ratio Greeks in Australia
Swedes in Sweden
Japanese in Japan
Anglo-Celts in Australia
Greeks in Greece
0.10 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00Relative mortality rate (all causes)
Howie’s Helpful Hints
3. Ignore the visual metaphor
Source: Tufte E. (2001) The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd Ed. Cheshire: Graphics Press
8.14
53.0
83.7
0.180.185.27
6.06.03.5factor Lie
Howie’s Helpful Hints
4. Only order matters
Source: Pravda, 24 May 1982.
Source: Los Angeles Times, 5 August 1979.
Howie’s Helpful Hints
5. Change scales mid-axis
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Cannabis use (number of occasions)
Cas
es o
f sc
hiz
op
hre
nia
(p
er 1
000)
Source: Andreasson S et al. Cannabis and schizophrenia. A longitudinal study of Swedish conscripts. Lancet. 1987 Dec 26;2(8574):1483-6.
A common error, often attributable to use of categorical x-axis, rather than quantitative.
More of this later …
Draw
n using MS Excel
Howie’s Helpful Hints
6. Emphasise the trivial
Source: US Bureau of Census. Social Indicators IIIcited: Wainer H. Visual Revelations (op cit)
Howie’s Helpful Hints
7. Jiggle the baseline
Source: Results of 1984 New York Democratic primary election;cited in: Cleveland WS. The Elements of Graphing Data. Monterey:
Wadsworth, 1985.
Howie’s Helpful Hints
8. Austria first!
Source: US Bureau of Census. Social Indicators IIIcited: Wainer H. Visual Revelations (op cit)
Drawn using Excel only
Note the “hatched” axis, ignoring the clear loss of proportionality for bar-lengths
Howie’s Helpful Hints
9. Label illegibly, incompletely, incorrectly
Source: Ithaca Times, 7 December 2000cited: http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/, 21 Nov 2002
Howie’s Helpful Hints
10. Make it 3D!
Source: The Scientist 11[14]:8, Jul. 07, 1997cited: http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/, 21 Nov 2002
Proportion of the Total Number of Published Papers By Region in All Fields, 1981 - 1996
Source: Marmot M. From Black to Acheson: two decades of concern with inequalities in health.
Int J Epidemiol 2001; 30: 1165-1171
Howie’s Helpful Hints
Good 3D & Bad 3D
The population of Sweden from 1750-1875 by age groups by Luigi Perozzo, from the Annali di Statistica, 1880,