Evaluating graphics for data distortion

Intro

Howdy!  I'm Professor Curtis of Aspire Mountain Academy here with more statistics homework help.  Today we're going to learn how to evaluate graphics for data distortion.  Here's our problem statement: The graph to the right uses cylinders to represent barrels of oil consumed by two countries.  Does the graph distort the data, or does it depict the data fairly?  Why or why not?  If the graph distorts the data, construct a graph that depicts the data fairly.

Part 1

OK, the first part of this problem is asking, "Does the graph distort the data? Why or why not?"  Our answer options here are either yes or no.  And "yes, because the graph incorrectly uses objects of volume to represent the data."  The other yes option says, "Because 3D objects always distort the data in graphs."  Well, 3D objects generally distort the data and graphs, but that's not always the case.  There are some exceptions to the rule.

But the rule is that, yeah, typically 3D objects are going to distort the data.  They incorrectly represent a 3D object on a 2D surface.  So some of the proportions get a little, uh, I guess you would say out of proportion.  And that's why it's often deceptive to represent 3D --- use 3D objects to represent, a one --- it's actually a one dimensional value is what it is.  Like the number of barrels, that's just one dimension.  But you've got three dimensions when you're looking at volume.  So that's where the distortion comes.  You're using multiple dimensions to represent only one dimension, which is along the single number line.  So yes, the graph does distort the data because they incorrectly use objects of volume to represent the data.  Nice work!

Part 2

Now the second part of this problem says, If the graph does not depict the data fairly (which it doesn't), which graph below does?"  OK, a bar graph is much more fair in its comparison.  Look at the answer options we get here.

Answer option D is obviously wrong because the graph does not depict the data fairly.  So if we scroll back up here, look at our Answer options A, B, and C, and notice Answer option C --- the graph does not start at zero.  This is another technique that people use to distort the data to make it appear like the difference between, uh, you know, multiple options is different than what it actually is.  So we don't want the non-zero axis here.

So it's going to be A or B.  And if you just look at the values here, 21.4 for A, 5.5 for B.  So A should be much larger than B.  And we see that here in Answer option A.  Answer option B, the values are flip flopped.  Nice work!

And that's how we do it at Aspire Mountain Academy.  Be sure to leave your comments below and let us know how good a job we do in or how we can improve.  And if your stats teacher is boring or just as I want to help you learn stats, go to aspiremountainacademy.com, where you can learn more about accessing our lecture videos or provide feedback on what you'd like to see.  Thanks for watching!  We'll see you in the next video.