Terrible graphs

Get your science fix here: research, quackery, activism and all the rest
User avatar
nekomatic
Dorkwood
Posts: 1476
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 3:04 pm

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by nekomatic » Tue Jan 24, 2023 7:39 am

Move-a… side, and let the mango through… let the mango through

User avatar
shpalman
Princess POW
Posts: 8456
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 12:53 pm
Location: One step beyond
Contact:

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by shpalman » Tue Jan 24, 2023 9:07 am

There were those who tried to correct by image manipulation it but didn't take account of the right y-axis having tics every 100 instead of 50; the correct answer is of course to replot the data at the source:

https://twitter.com/ShangguanJiewen/sta ... 8312864769
having that swing is a necessary but not sufficient condition for it meaning a thing
@shpalman@mastodon.me.uk

User avatar
jimbob
Light of Blast
Posts: 5531
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 4:04 pm
Location: High Peak/Manchester

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by jimbob » Sun Feb 05, 2023 3:09 pm

AMap.

And it took me a bit too long to see what the problem was

https://twitter.com/TerribleMaps/status ... m3sH6A1vNw

I quite liked these replies to my quote tweet

https://twitter.com/JimmyLedingham/stat ... m3sH6A1vNw

https://twitter.com/Marco_Piani/status/ ... m3sH6A1vNw
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

User avatar
Gfamily
Light of Blast
Posts: 5568
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:00 pm
Location: NW England

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by Gfamily » Sun Feb 05, 2023 3:48 pm

jimbob wrote:
Sun Feb 05, 2023 3:09 pm
AMap.
And it took me a bit too long to see what the problem was
You're not alone at the most obvious map based one, but there are multiple other problems with the data, the colours, the groups ...
My avatar was a scientific result that was later found to be 'mistaken' - I rarely claim to be 100% correct
ETA 5/8/20: I've been advised that the result was correct, it was the initial interpretation that needed to be withdrawn
Meta? I'd say so!

User avatar
Fishnut
After Pie
Posts: 2536
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:15 pm
Location: UK

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by Fishnut » Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:09 pm

Any ideas what it's actually trying to show? Even beyond the obvious problems with the southern continent, it looks like it's saying there's only one species of perching bird in most of North America.
it's okay to say "I don't know"

User avatar
Martin Y
Stummy Beige
Posts: 3200
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:08 pm

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by Martin Y » Mon Feb 06, 2023 8:43 am

It's showing an example of a planet with between 0.5 and 1.5 perching birds in Upper Africa?

User avatar
jimbob
Light of Blast
Posts: 5531
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 4:04 pm
Location: High Peak/Manchester

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by jimbob » Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:07 am

Fishnut wrote:
Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:09 pm
Any ideas what it's actually trying to show? Even beyond the obvious problems with the southern continent, it looks like it's saying there's only one species of perching bird in most of North America.
It is possible that it's photoshopped (although the textbook does have lots of maps with overlapping bins

0-50, 50-100 etc
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

monkey
After Pie
Posts: 2009
Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2019 5:10 pm

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by monkey » Thu Feb 09, 2023 2:20 pm

This is a figure from a paper in Science Advances. They might well have found something out, but I haven't checked because it just looks like they're taking the piss to me.
words_words_subject_subject.jpg
words_words_subject_subject.jpg (109.3 KiB) Viewed 4885 times
Image source: clicky

Paper: clicky

User avatar
dyqik
Princess POW
Posts: 8089
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:19 pm
Location: Masshole
Contact:

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by dyqik » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:00 pm

jimbob wrote:
Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:07 am
Fishnut wrote:
Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:09 pm
Any ideas what it's actually trying to show? Even beyond the obvious problems with the southern continent, it looks like it's saying there's only one species of perching bird in most of North America.
It is possible that it's photoshopped (although the textbook does have lots of maps with overlapping bins

0-50, 50-100 etc
That's OK for continuous variables, where the edge of one bin is only infinitesimally distant from the next. But not for discrete values like "number of species".

User avatar
jimbob
Light of Blast
Posts: 5531
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 4:04 pm
Location: High Peak/Manchester

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by jimbob » Mon Feb 13, 2023 10:21 pm

https://twitter.com/shashj/status/16252 ... h_AcHicgUg
Fo4SyeQX0AQOvi7.jpeg
Fo4SyeQX0AQOvi7.jpeg (64.89 KiB) Viewed 4789 times
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

User avatar
dyqik
Princess POW
Posts: 8089
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:19 pm
Location: Masshole
Contact:

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by dyqik » Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:05 pm

jimbob wrote:
Mon Feb 13, 2023 10:21 pm
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/16252 ... h_AcHicgUg

Fo4SyeQX0AQOvi7.jpeg
Thanks to that, I've now got some idea of how big Nelson's Column is.

User avatar
JQH
After Pie
Posts: 2189
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 3:30 pm
Location: Sar Flandan

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by JQH » Wed Mar 01, 2023 2:57 pm

How well does it fly?
And remember that if you botch the exit, the carnival of reaction may be coming to a town near you.

Fintan O'Toole

User avatar
dyqik
Princess POW
Posts: 8089
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:19 pm
Location: Masshole
Contact:

Re: Terrible graphs

Post by dyqik » Wed Mar 01, 2023 4:28 pm

JQH wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 2:57 pm
How well does it fly?
Depends which direction you want it to fly in.

And how many pigeons you glue to it.

Post Reply