Cheng Peng

According to Few, this graphic got a fundamental thing wrong - the author should have picked a line chart instead of bar chart because the data here is changing across time. Bar charts are more useful in showing individual values, but does not do as good a job in showing the trend. In addition, the fact that the same variable is represented with different colors across time is misleading, since differences in color are often associated changes in variables. The third mistake, according to Few's paper, is that the y-axis of this bar chart does not start with zero. As a result, the final value 672K seems to be five times as much as the first value, 572K. This is clearly misleading. Few mentioned that if we have to start with a non-zero value, then it's better to make it less prominent, such as by showing not bars but points. The fourth problem is that there is no labeling of y-axis. Namely, it's not clear to the reader what the numbers represent. If we are to read the paragraph on the left, we could figure out the meaning, but the actual graph to the right does not convey this information. Finally, the comment on the left is way too long. Most viewers of the graph will be probably ignore it.

FOR THIS AND ALL OF MY PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS WHERE I FORGOT TO SIGN THE HONORS CODE:

I have neither given nor received aid while working on this assignment. I have completed the graded portion BEFORE looking at anyone else's work on this assignment.

Signed, Cheng Peng.