A news channel on cable T.V. polled politicians on an issue to find out who agreed with a court decision. This is the graphic th
ey used in their report. Results by Party
A graph titled Results by Party has Political party on the x-axis, and Percent who agreed on the y-axis, from 53 to 63 in increments of 2. Democrats, 62; Republicans, 54; Independents, 54.
Source: mediamatters.org
What makes this graph misleading?
a.
The horizontal scale only shows three parties. It needs to show every party.
b.
The vertical scale is too broad. It needs to focus in on a narrower range.
c.
The horizontal scale exaggerates the differences between the parties.
d.
The vertical scale is too narrow. It needs to be a wider range, such as 0 to 100.
Please select the best answer from the choices provided
Answer: d. The vertical scale is too narrow. It needs to be a wider range, such as 0 to 100.
Step-by-step explanation:
The vertical scale is indeed too narrow. It needs to have a wider range that will enable a person who is looking at the graph, better compare the results shown because the magnitude of the number will be more apparent.
A range such as 0 to 100 would be ideal for this and would present the information in such a way that when a person looks at the graph, they understand the relative difference between the percentages who agreed with the court decision.
