If you have ever looked at a chart, you probably made assumptions about what exactly it was telling you, according to what it looked like. By manipulating the scales of the x and y axis, charts that display the same data can be perceived very different. This data, of the progress of Sheff I can look two different ways; it can look like there was a ton of progress, and it can look like there was very little progress. The data I am working with is:
Actual and Legal Process toward Sheff I Goal, 2003-2007 Chart – Data Source: Dougherty et al. “Sheff v O’Neill: Weak Desegregation Remedies,” Figure 5.1, p. 111
With this, we can make the data look like this:
Or, look like this:
When looking at these two charts, we see two different stories. By changing the scales, we see that there was a lot of progress towards the goal (chart 1) or that there was little progress towards the goal (chart 2). Those that use charts to show statistics can make the data look different based on the way scales are used. To make the data look different, I changed the Y-scale to 0-100% rather than 0-35%. By doing this, the data looks entirely different and tells two different stories. I created these charts through excel by putting data into a spreadsheet and then creating a chart according to that data. All people have to do with charts showing statistics is change the maximum and minimum values of the Y-scale and the chart tells something different.