Graphical Methods for Data Presentation: Full Scale Breaks, Dot Charts, and Multibased Logging
- 1 November 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in The American Statistician
- Vol. 38 (4) , 270-280
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.1984.10483224
Abstract
Experimentation with graphical methods for data presentation is important for improving graphical communication in science. Several methods—full scale breaks, dot charts, and multibased logging—are discussed. Full scale breaks are suggested as replacements for partial scale breaks, since partial breaks can fail to provide a forceful visual indication of a change in the scale. Dot charts show data that have labels and are replacements for bar charts; the new charts can be used in a wider variety of circumstances and allow more effective visual decoding of the quantitative information. Logarithms are powerful tools for data presentation; base 2 or base e is often more effective than the commonly used base 10.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Graphs in Scientific PublicationsThe American Statistician, 1984
- Graphical Perception: Theory, Experimentation, and Application to the Development of Graphical MethodsJournal of the American Statistical Association, 1984
- New Lamps for Old: An Exploratory Analysis of Running Times in Olympic GamesJournal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C: Applied Statistics, 1982
- Graphical Methods in StatisticsThe American Statistician, 1979