Great post! I especially enjoyed the section about color and how to emphasize certain results. I generally agree that bar graphs should start from zero, but I don't think this is a hard and fast rule. For instance, if you have values that are quite far from zero and the difference in values between bars are small, but meaningful, then this difference could be washed out by starting from zero. Curious to hear your thoughts though on non-count data and the use of bar graphs (e.g., means, point estimates with error, etc.). Would you recommend? Thanks!
Thank you! In that case it would be better to choose a different chart type, for example dot plot. The rule about zero is about out perception and how we analyze difference between bars.
Great, thank you for sharing this article. The article you shared dives directly at my point, and I think suggests a nice compromise: the inset graph. I think this is a good idea where extending to zero has both advantages and disadvantages. Thank you!
Great post! I especially enjoyed the section about color and how to emphasize certain results. I generally agree that bar graphs should start from zero, but I don't think this is a hard and fast rule. For instance, if you have values that are quite far from zero and the difference in values between bars are small, but meaningful, then this difference could be washed out by starting from zero. Curious to hear your thoughts though on non-count data and the use of bar graphs (e.g., means, point estimates with error, etc.). Would you recommend? Thanks!
Thank you! In that case it would be better to choose a different chart type, for example dot plot. The rule about zero is about out perception and how we analyze difference between bars.
Regarding 0 axis I also highly recommend this article https://www.practicalreporting.com/blog/2021/12/4/do-i-need-to-include-zero-in-my-charts-scale-its-surprisingly-complicated
Great, thank you for sharing this article. The article you shared dives directly at my point, and I think suggests a nice compromise: the inset graph. I think this is a good idea where extending to zero has both advantages and disadvantages. Thank you!