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Kasz216 on 25 May 2013
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Akvod said:
Kasz216 said:
Akvod said:
Kasz216 said:
Akvod said:
 
 

 

 

 


 

Here's the thing.  I wouldn't whip up a visual that conveys your point.

Not having defined a defined axis better, but still considered problematic, deceptivie and is something staticians wouldn't do.  I wouldn't do it because I specifically have been trained and retrained to never do that.   (Really, the best way to do it... which still wouldn't be excepted would be to use a completely fictional product with finctional indivudal parts.  Like widgets... or well not widgets since software designers have annoyingly coopted the term widget.  Maybe talking about Spacely Sprockets and Cogswell Cogs or something.)

What I WOULD do is look up research and find existing data, and make a graph based off that.  If they couldn't find any such data they would simply just stick with explaining their point via words... with nongraph pictures.

For example that premium icecream comes in rectangular boxes with smooth edged instead of round cylinders because people are willing to pay more for rectangualr boxes with smooth edged because it exudes a "high class" feel, and in focus testing actually makes the icecream taste better! (Or people thinks it tastes better.  Same difference really.)

Or point out in the past how often times a generation ago people would actually pay less for a device with more options.

Or just simply say "All this extra stuff costs extra money, and not everyone is going to care about every feature."

But again, visuals convey points quicker and more simply.

 

You're confounding two things in my opinions: Statistics and graphs.

 

Statistics is the study of data. Graphs are just visualizations, one of the things they can visualize being data.

 

Graphs can be manipulated to contextualize data. But the problem is that I'm not even presenting data, nor did I give the impression of it (again, non-sensical numbers, poor quality, my lack of pointing to any numbers or making any conclusions). All I ILLUSTRATED was that I think gamers have a higher WTP than non-gamers, and that the gaming and non-gaming functions appeal to the two audiences differently.

 

If I did present REAL DATA in a graph, and manipulated the graph to contextualize the data in a dishonest way, that would be abuse.

If I presented the graph, and claimed it was real data, that would be a lie.

If I presented the graph, and made an argument based on numbers, that would be non-sensical on my part.

 

Again, you knew from the start that I wasn't using real data, that I wasn't presented it like it was real data, and that I wasn't making an argument on the numbers (or really even an argument at all. I was just presenting a hypothetical example).

 

Just drop it.


And again... that is still incredibly wrong and something noone in statistics would ever do.  Espiecally online where graphs are often independently seperated from data.  

I'm not confounding anything.  

I'm just telling you very specifically  as a matter of fact what professionals are told to never do.

Your just wrong on a very base conceptual level.  Just go to your local college and ask a college profressor if you don't know anybody else who uses graphs in a professional sense.  Using somethinng like a trunicated graph is actually less of an issue.

If you just don't give a damn, you know... fine.   Just know you were unintentionaly ethically misusing graphs.  

Using a hypothetical doesn't matter.  Simply put... people don't use hypotheticals instead they use old data.

I only pointed it out because it's like being a dentist and seeing someone looking in someones mouth without gloves or a mask over their mouth.  Just something that makes you cringe because of the very base of your training.

And I feel like I went pretty far out of my way to mention the fact that I don't think you did it intentionally, and am simply pointing out this is something you should never want to do, simply from an educational point of view.


It's like being a dentist and noticing someone sticking their hands in somebodies motu