Objectives for this activity
During this activity, you will:
- Ask appropriate questions to think critically about complex graphical displays.
- Interpret different components of a complex graphical display.
- Explain the overall purpose/intention of a complex graphical display.
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
In the previous What to Know page, you were introduced to a heat map, which is a type of complex graphical display. In that page, you learned to infer the type of dataset used in the display, the data source, and to identify the scale and colors used to represent the data. You also learned to recognize an accurate interpretation of the display and were able to write a statement about interpreting it. In this activity, you’ll interact with other complex graphical displays often seen in the news media. You’ll learn how to think critically about them and you’ll see that it takes time to read and interpret graphs in the media correctly.
Complex Graphical Displays
You’ve seen that graphical displays are useful for presenting a large amount of complex data in a compact and digestible form. The media uses graphs regularly to present information about topical situations. But it takes time and a critical eye to correctly interpret a display presented in the media. A display may be unintentionally misleading or even designed to misrepresent the true nature of the data.
Take a look at some of the graphs available at the following sites and choose one that looks interesting to you. Then, consider Question 1 individually before sharing your thoughts with a partner.
Sites with graphical displays
Question 1
Think about an interesting graphical display you may have seen in a news article or on a website. What kind of display was it? What was interesting about it?
Components of Graphical Displays
Guidance
[Intro: The features of a complex graphical display like those used in the media, especial in digital media, can make it compelling to interact with the display. Throughout this activity, you’ll move back and forth between considering a display on your own, thinking about its features and how they help tell the story of the data source, then sharing your observations and ideas with a partner. As you share your individual perspectives, you’ll hopefully see the graphs with fresh eyes, which will lead you to a fuller interpretations. In a moment, you’ll spend some time with one of two graphical displays from The New York Times, using it to answer the remaining questions. As you do, make sure to give yourself time to consider the questions individually first, before discussing with a partner or group.]
Two different graphs from The New York Times educational feature, “What’s Going On in This Graph?” are linked below. Your instructor may assign you and your group to one particular graph. If so, answer the questions below that pertain to the graph which you were assigned. Otherwise, you may concentrate on either of them or both of them as desired.
Graphical Display 1: Heat map with two graphs about global water stress levels:[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-global-water-stress-levels.html
Graphical Display 2: Interactive heat map about social connectedness in America:[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-jan-9-2019.html
Answer the questions below by first reading and answering them individually, then sharing your answer with your group. The answers you supply in this page should be your own, individual perspective of the graphical display. If you are completing this activity during a class meeting, follow your instructor’s guidance. For instance, you may be asked to randomly or fairly choose a recorder for your group who will share your discussion results with the whole class.
Question 2
What did you notice about the graphical display you explored? Was there anything that you focused on when you first saw the graphical display?
Guidance
[Sub-summary: In Question 3, you’ll be asked to interpret the purpose of the graphical display you are investigating. Here are some questions that may help you frame your perspective.
For Graphical Display 1: The topmost graph is a dotplot. What does each dot represent? What do the different colors represent? What do you notice about the placement of the dot labeled “Tokyo” on the dot plot? Does it indicate that Tokyo has water stress or does it indicate something else? Is there a relationship between the dotplot and the heat map?
For Graphical Display 2: What does “relative probability” mean in the title of the graphical display? If you consider “relative probability” to mean roughly the same as a relative frequency, does this help interpret it? What does the scale of the likelihood of friendship mean? What do the darker colors mean compared to the lighter colors? What do the percentages next to 50 miles, 100 miles, and 500 miles indicate? ]
Interpreting a the Purpose of a Display
The first step in interpreting a graphical display, which you explored in Question 2, is to identify and interpret its components. The components used and the perspective they offer of the data will help you to identify the purpose of the graph. Question 3 will help you build strategies for interpreting the purpose of a display. In Question 4, you’ll practice summarizing and communication the purpose to others.
Question 3
For the graphical display you explored, answer the following questions silently and then discuss the questions in your small groups.
Part A: What did you wonder about the graphical display? What are you curious about that comes from what you saw in the graphical display?
Part B: What might be the purpose or intention of the graphical display?
Note: If you explore Graphical Display 2, you will need to find the county that you live in or the county where your college/university is located on the map.
Part C: (For Graphical Display 2 only) What differences did you notice in the graphical display between the county you live in or go to school in compared to another county on the map? What similarities did you notice between the counties?
Part D: Think about and jot down what strategies you used during your silent work and group work when reading and interpreting the graphical display.
Now that you’ve had a chance to analyze your graphical display for interpretation, let others know what the purpose of the graph is by imagining you are writing a 140-character tweet to describe the graph publicly.
Question 4
Write a 140-character tweet in your group that describes the purpose of the graphical display assigned to your group.
Note: If tweets now permit more than 140 characters as you read this, limit your tweet to the old-style 140-character limit. The objective for this question includes brevity.
Guidance
[Wrap-up: In Question 3, you were asked to interpret the purpose for the graphical display you explored. You probably realized that it will generally take considerable time and effort to think about the features being used in a complex display in order to understand all the nuances of what the graph is displaying. Think about your answer to Question 3, Part D: “What strategies did you use when reading and interpreting the graphical display?” These are the kinds of critical questions you can always use to interpret a complex display in the media. ]
- The Learning Network. (2020, February 28). What’s going on in this graph? | Global water stress levels. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-global- water-stress-levels.html ↵
- The Learning Network. (2019, January 10). What’s going on in this graph? | Jan. 9, 2019. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-jan-9-2019.html ↵
