Misleading graphs

Task goals

• Recall the five features of a good, honest graph: good title, clearly labelled axes, simplicity, clear data points, and an uninterrupted (zero-baseline) axis.
• Identify a truncated or non-zero y-axis and explain why it exaggerates the apparent difference between values.
• Recognise the axis-break (zig-zag) symbol and explain what it signals to a reader.
• Identify area distortion in pictograms, where scaling an icon's linear size makes its area (and the visual impression) grow much faster than the true value.
• Redraw or describe an honest correction of a misleading graph using the same data.
• Critique a misleading graph in detail, using actual figures to quantify how misleading it is, and reason about the ethics and real-world impact of misleading data visualisation.