BOB for Oct. 6

For today's scribe, I will be telling you three things I know about graphing!

These are the three things I know about graphing:

1) Different types of graphs.

There are a lot of many different types of graphs that can be used to show a set of data.

Examples are bar graphs, double bar graphs, circle graphs, line graphs and picto graphs.

• Bar graphs are best for comparing a set of data.
• Double bar graphs are best for comparing two sets of data.
• Circle bar graphs are best for comparing categories by using percent.
• Line graphs are best for showing changes in a set of data.
• Picto graphs are best for comparing data that can be counted and represent by using pictures.

2) Misrepresenting Data

People may misinterpret the data and draw false conclusions when graphs are misleading.

Misleading features of graphs may include the following:

• Distorting scales.

• Distorting the information by using visuals of different sizes.

3) Advantages and disadvantages.

Every type of graph has its own advantage and disadvantage of showing a set of data.

Bar graph & double bar graphs

Advantages

• Excellent use for comparing one or two sets of data.
  
• Easy to read and understand.

Disadvantages

• Can be tempting to compare too many things, the graph becomes difficult to understand.
• Limited space for labeling with vertical bar graphs.

Circle graphs

Advantages

• Shows total percent for each category.
• Visually appealing.

Disadvantages

• Hard to compare two sets of data.
• No exact numerical data.

Line graphs

Advantages

• Can easily compare continuous sets of data.
• Shows the increase and decrease of a data set.

Disadvantages

• Use only with continuous data.

Picto graphs

Advantages

• Easy to read.
• It can easily handle large sets of data using icons.

Disadvantages

• Best for only 2-6 categories.
• Icons must be correct in size.

What I need to improve on:

I can improve on explaining how graphs could be misleading and also being able to write at least a paragraph about a graph.