How to spot a misleading graph - Lea Gaslowitz

When they’re used well, graphs can help us intuitively grasp complex data. But as visual software has enabled more usage of graphs throughout all media, it has also made them easier to use in a careless or dishonest way — and as it turns out, there are plenty of ways graphs can mislead and outright manipulate. Lea Gaslowitz shares some things to look out for.

Lesson by Lea Gaslowitz, directed by Mark Phillips.

[dorupero]

Now I know how to mislead people using graphs. Learning something new everyday...

[Snommelp]

One manipulation I would have added: I've seen at least one instance of a graph where the Y axis was *inverted* without explanation, making it seem like an increase was actually a decrease.

[woodfur]

My favorite is when they don't even label the increments, so you know they've mislead you, but you can't actually tell how badly.

[badtriceratops]

TedEd is the digital equivalent of a library. Its a nice little reading corner. A hammock under a warm light. A warm cup of cocoa.

[Vaibhavsingh-ycln]

manipulative guy : the numbers don't lie.
.
.
ted-ed: well no, but actually yes.

[justinmiller]

Please, more of these information dissection videos. People are bombarded with information and just do not know what to do with it.

[Pacwerdna]

I love how Lea was like, "Let's have the guy marry the graph at the end, " and Ted-Ed was like, "Absolutely."

[ProfessorPolitics]

Don't forget double Y axes! With those, you can legitimately make the price of bananas appear to correlate with NASA's funding levels.

[ExDarkx]

Got this from a very intelligent drag queen:
"Statistics is like a bikini; What it reveals is interesting but what it hides is crucial"

[TheBookloverforever]

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain.

[kcwidman]

Everyone across the world needs to watch this video and apply it in life.

[obscurity]

Ted-Ed is getting quite violent. Their recent videos are too graph-ic

[ElloLoJo]

I like the thumbnail.... in the thumbnail...

[eb]

the worst case of this ive ever seen is one about gun deaths, where they flat out just flipped the scale...

[nbksrbija]

3:34 "President Thumb to congress: Think of it as a new rule of thumb"

Wow.

[gioviskia]

Read "How to lie with Statistics" by Darrell Huff: a masterpiece in this field!

[sabrel]

I remember seeing a graph on violent crime rates that had a reversed x-axis, used inconsistent differences between times, used opinion polls rather than hard numbers, and had a margin of error so larger than some of the difference between points

[randomperson]

Liar: numbers don’t lie.
Me: You’re a human, not a number.

[novemberninth]

Graph literacy is one of the most important skills we need to know. Sadly people are still often fooled by graphs. I also need to train myself to look at graphs more critically

[rebelbeammasterx]

And sometimes companies pay scientists to distort their data, thus making the graph inherently wrong even without distorting the graph and its context.