Miss leading Graphs Activity-graphs · 2017. 3. 27. · Figures!and!Lies:! Howdata!is!manipulated!to!shape!our!opinions!!! An!activity!that!explores!how!to!recognize!misleadinggraphs,!

Figures and Lies: How data is manipulated to shape our opinions

An activity that explores how to recognize misleading graphs, using everday examples from the media.

By learning to recognize common ways graphs can be manipulated, you can start the process of changing from passive consumers of data

to active, critical thinkers.

www.FrontPorchMath.com 2

Look through the graphs and come up with a list of misleading techniques. Then read through the list below and and add any not included. If you did not get one the the techniques listed below, look at the graphs again and try to find an example of it.

Deceptive Graph Techniques:

1. Graph is accurate, but misleading a. giving an irrelevant correlation b. ignoring other variables ex. asking the wrong questions ex. not factoring in population growth ex. missing information to needed to understand the data c. “cherry picking” data d. graph is not properly labeled 2. Scale is distorted a. scale does not start at zero b. scale is enlarged c. scale is too small d. there is no scale or units are missing 3. Graph is not accurately drawn or distorts the information a. pieces of the graph appear larger or smaller than they should ex. 3-‐D graphs ex. picture graphs b. percents don’t add up to 100 c. pieces in a chart are not in the correct ratios d. graph is drawn upside down e. units are not evenly or proportionally spaced














Graph sources:

1 Money Looms, “Retirement Age and Life Expectancy?” by Allen Foster, https://moneylooms.com/retirement-age-life-expectancy

2 Social media Examiner, “12 Social Media Marketing Trends for Small Business,” by Suzanne Delzio, posted on June 9, 2015 http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-trends-for-small-business

3 World History Blog, “Longer Life Expectancy”, published on Monday, October 5, 2015 http://worldhistoryblogpaloma.blogspot.com/2015/10/longer-life-expectancy.html

4 Association for Psychological Science, “Graphing Literacy in the Psychology Major,” by Susan A. Nolan and Thomas E. Heinzen, September 2009 http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/graphing-literacy-in-the-psychology-major#.WIo1TXeZOF8

5 Buzz Feed News, “13 Graphs That Are Clearly Lying”, by Katie Notopoulos, posted on Oct. 3, 2014, at 2:06 p.m. Image Source: reddit.com Found at: https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/graphs-that-lied-to-us?utm_term=.uvpplxNk9#.gvpxEzQYr

6 Statistics How To, “Misleading Graphs Real Life Examples, by Andale, January 24, 2014 Image: University of Kentucky. http://www.statisticshowto.com/misleading-graphs/

7 Statistics How To, “Misleading Graphs Real Life Examples, by Andale, January 24, 2014 http://www.statisticshowto.com/misleading-graphs/

Video of commercial can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaTZHBmR7So

8 Buzz Feed News, “13 Graphs That Are Clearly Lying”, by Katie Notopoulos, posted on Oct. 3, 2014, at 2:06 p.m. Image source: https://imgur.com/DXEI9KA Uploaded Sept. 3, 2014 https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/graphs-that-lied-to-us?utm_term=.aaYN8r0VE#.xkadXQymj

9 Passy’s World of Mathematics, ”Real World Charts and Graphs”, posted on March 24, 2012. Image Source: http://www.brs-inc.com (Business Resource Software, Inc.) Found at: http://passyworldofmathematics.com/real-world-charts-and-graphs/

10 “Ocean temperature a negligible trend” Created from the data at NOAA National Centers for Environmental information, Climate at a Glance: Global Time Series, published January 2017, retrieved on January 18, 2017 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/

11 “Annual Global Ocean Temperature Anomalies, 1880 to 2016” NOAA National Centers for Environmental information, Climate at a Glance: Global Time Series, published January 2017, retrieved on January 18, 2017 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/ Please note: anomalies are with respect to the 20th century average.

12 Created from the data at NOAA National Centers for Environmental information, Climate at a Glance: Global Time Series, published January 2017, retrieved on January 18, 2017 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/


13 Buzz Feed News, “13 Graphs That Are Clearly Lying”, by Katie Notopoulos, posted on Oct. 3, 2014, at 2:06 pm. Image Source: gravismarketing.com / Via reddit.com https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/graphs-that-lied-to-us?utm_term=.gdyOQ0o48#.itny0kRAz

14 Buzz Feed News, “13 Graphs That Are Clearly Lying”, by Katie Notopoulos, posted on Oct. 3, 2014, at 2:06 pm. Image Source: CNN / Via buzzfeed.com https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/graphs-that-lied-to-us?utm_term=.gdyOQ0o48#.itny0kRAz

15 Passy’s World of Mathematics, “Misleading Graphs, ”posted on March 13, 2012 Image Source: http://www.visionjar.com -- Fox 40 News http://passyworldofmathematics.com/misleading-graphs

16 Beckers Hospital Review, “5 statistics to know about hospital admission rates,” by Elizabeth Earl, March 16, 2015 http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/population-health/5-statistics-to-know-about-hospital-admission-rates.html

17 Vox, “Every year, more people watch the Super Bowl. Why did it hit its ratings peak in 1982?” updated by Todd VanDerWerff and Javier Zarracina Feb 5, 2017. Source: Nielson http://www.vox.com/2016/2/5/10921574/super-bowl-ratings

18 Vox, “Every year, more people watch the Super Bowl. Why did it hit its ratings peak in 1982?” updated by Todd VanDerWerff and Javier Zarracina Feb 5, 2017. Source: Nielson http://www.vox.com/2016/2/5/10921574/super-bowl-ratings

19 Ambergrics Caye.com Forum, “Well now you've gone and done it Ollie-Climate cha” http://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/503768/well-now-youve-gone-and-done-it-ollie-climate-cha.html

20 Carpe Diem, Professor Mark J. Perry’s Blog for Economics and Finance, “Us Life Expectancy,” January 12, 2012 http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2012/01/us-life-expectancy-reaches-new-high-of.html

21 Stack Overflow, “iOS Line charts with multiple y-axis” http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12670751/ios-line-charts-with-multiple-y-axis

22 Fox News, America's Newsroom, 12/12/11, via Media Matters Image Source: Passy’s World of Mathematics, “Misleading Graphs,” posted on March 13, 2012 http://passyworldofmathematics.com/misleading-graphs

23 Florida Department of Law Enforcement, C. Chan Feb 16, 2014 Image source: Buzz Feed News, “13 Graphs That Are Clearly Lying”, by Katie Notopoulos, posted on Oct. 3, 2014, at 2:06 p.m https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/graphs-that-lied-to-us?utm_term=.gdyOQ0o48#.itny0kRAz

24 Image source: Buzz Feed News, “13 Graphs That Are Clearly Lying”, by Katie Notopoulos, posted on Oct. 3, 2014, at 2:06 p.m https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/graphs-that-lied-to-us?utm_term=.aaYN8r0VE#.xkadXQymj

Documents

Miss leading Graphs Activity-graphs · 2017. 3. 27. · Figures!and!Lies:! Howdata!is!manipulated!to!shape!our!opinions!!! An!activity!that!explores!how!to!recognize!misleadinggraphs,!