{"id":1230,"date":"2019-01-18T08:54:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T22:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2021-06-17T08:44:02","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T22:44:02","slug":"losing-the-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/","title":{"rendered":"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1230\" class=\"elementor elementor-1230\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a64dfdc elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-stretched elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a64dfdc\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;,&quot;stretch_section&quot;:&quot;section-stretched&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-background-overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-wide\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4e8d08a0\" data-id=\"4e8d08a0\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3545c1af elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3545c1af\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_animation&quot;:&quot;fadeIn&quot;,&quot;_animation_delay&quot;:100}\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a53c03 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"a53c03\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_animation&quot;:&quot;fadeIn&quot;,&quot;_animation_delay&quot;:300}\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-05c5c55 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"05c5c55\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ecc86d0\" data-id=\"ecc86d0\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5bd8de9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"5bd8de9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Michael-Lam-profile-pic-e1575510347599-150x150.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-image-324\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1b7ea39\" data-id=\"1b7ea39\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-67eac82 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"67eac82\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/word-press-profile-pic-2-e1575510701876-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-image-202\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8ed17cd\" data-id=\"8ed17cd\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d956c2e elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"d956c2e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/uqbmasse-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-image-162\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/uqbmasse-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/uqbmasse.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-42dcd37 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"42dcd37\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-296680b\" data-id=\"296680b\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-595cb39 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"595cb39\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>By Michael Lam, Mel Hyde, and Barbara Masser<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2410f90 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2410f90\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-e3c5ae3\" data-id=\"e3c5ae3\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-69fa172 elementor-drop-cap-yes elementor-drop-cap-view-default elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"69fa172\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;drop_cap&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>You have just finished analysing your data and you\u2019re keen to show the world what you found. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Data_visualization\">Data visualisation<\/a>, graphically representing information or data, is key to describing your findings to others. How do you present your findings? People typically use bar graphs (a.k.a. bar charts or bar plots) to visualise their data in which the relationship between numerical (i.e., number of times something occurs) and categorical (i.e., category, type or group) data are plotted vertically or horizontally as bars.\u00a0 However, there are many plots you can choose from and bar plots are not always the best way to visualise data.<\/p><p>Let\u2019s start off with what a bar plot actually does. Bar plots are used to represent the numerical value of a category. The height of each bar represents the absolute value (e.g., quantity, amount) of the category. For example, say you collected data on the type of bandages blood donors chose to wear after their donation. To visualise this, you could plot a summary of the total number of donors selecting each type of bandage. The bar plot does a good job in this instance as it accurately shows the count across each category.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-22fd0cd elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"22fd0cd\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-0de2e27\" data-id=\"0de2e27\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4ec9a04 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"4ec9a04\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"615\" height=\"351\" src=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-615x351.png\" class=\"attachment-fluida-featured size-fluida-featured wp-image-1282\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-615x351.png 615w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-1024x585.png 1024w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-768x439.png 768w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-1536x878.png 1536w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-2048x1170.png 2048w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-525x300.png 525w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Frequency-bar-512x293.png 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-9a9fb99 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"9a9fb99\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-83f52ee\" data-id=\"83f52ee\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a311cd5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a311cd5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>But now, what happens if you are working with continuous outcome data?\u00a0 Continuous outcomes refer to data that can take any value within a range. Sticking with the bandage example, let\u2019s say you have data on the degree to which other people think the bandage wearer is generous. To visualise this, the data would need to be summarised by plotting the average rating (i.e., mean) that people gave to indicate their perception of the generosity for each bandage wearer. To accompany the mean, we also need to provide an indicator of uncertainty \u2013 how much the average value varies in each category (i.e., variability). The common method used to represent variability is either the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.r-graph-gallery.com\/4-barplot-with-error-bar.html\">standard deviation, standard error, or 95% confidence interval.<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a562aa4 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a562aa4\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-c79f54a\" data-id=\"c79f54a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6706c4b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6706c4b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h6><strong>So, what is wrong with using bar plots for continuous outcomes?<\/strong><\/h6><ol><li>The \u2018bar\u2019 is misleading. People typically use the height of the bar as an indicator of the mean. But think about what you are doing here, you are averaging across all responses in the category to get a single value and plotting this as the height. Not everyone is selecting the average value and you are also hiding what people are selecting. While you can use error bars to represent the variability in people\u2019s responses, studies show this does not help at all. People are likely to show what is called the <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.3758\/s13423-012-0247-5\">within-the-bar bias<\/a> \u2013 that is, they think that all values fall within this range. This bias occurs even if you add error bars to your bar plot.<\/li><li>The bar hides the distribution of the data. What if you wanted to know more than the mean. Imagine you are considering questions such as: What are the minimum and maximum values? Could the mean be skewed (i.e., distorted to the left or right of a normal distribution) by an extreme value? How many responses are there in each category? The chances you will be able to answer these questions are quite slim when all you see are rectangular boxes.<\/li><\/ol><p>None of this is new. Many <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosbiology\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pbio.1002128\">research<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nmeth.2807.pdf?origin=ppub\">papers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/thenode.biologists.com\/barbarplots\/photo\/\">blogs<\/a> are encouraging people to stop using bar plots to represent continuous data. A few years ago, a group of young scientists started a movement called <a href=\"https:\/\/barbarplots.github.io\/index.html\">#barbarplots<\/a> to promote using more transparent plots instead of bar plots.\u00a0 We know what you are thinking, so what should I use instead?<\/p><h6><strong>Losing the plot &#8211; alternatives to bar plots<\/strong><\/h6><p>The good news is that there are plenty of alternatives that you could use to visualise your summary statistics. To name a few, there are <a href=\"https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/understanding-boxplots-5e2df7bcbd51\">box<\/a> plots, <a href=\"https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/violin-plots-explained-fb1d115e023d\">violin<\/a> plots, and <a href=\"https:\/\/micahallen.org\/2018\/03\/15\/introducing-raincloud-plots\/\">raincloud<\/a> plots. We will focus on boxplots and use some of our own data as an example of how you could visualise your data more transparently.<\/p><h6><strong>Example<\/strong><\/h6><p>In our published <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/vox.13018\">paper<\/a> last year, we found that participants rated the target wearing a blood branded bandage to be more generous than when they wore either a plain bandage or no bandage. First, let\u2019s plot this data using a bar graph. The height of the bar graph corresponds to the mean and the error bars represent the standard error (Figure A). Next to this, we plot the same data using box plots (Figure B). The raw data points (transparent circles) are shown to help illustrate the interpretation of the boxplot.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-8ba3b2e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"8ba3b2e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3843886\" data-id=\"3843886\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3236709 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"3236709\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-1024x551.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-1249\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-1024x551.png 1024w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-768x414.png 768w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-1536x827.png 1536w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-2048x1103.png 2048w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-557x300.png 557w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-615x331.png 615w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/allplots-512x276.png 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-64a5206 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"64a5206\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-e3bf334\" data-id=\"e3bf334\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1594cf0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1594cf0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Looking at the plots, you should see that the box plots in Figure B clearly show more information about the data than the bar plot in Figure A. In the bar plot, all you can really see is the mean value. Looking at the box plot, you can see both the median and mean. The box (i.e., interquartile range) also shows where 50% of the data points fall. Lastly, the minimum and maximum scores are displayed along with any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itl.nist.gov\/div898\/handbook\/prc\/section1\/prc16.htm\">outliers<\/a> (i.e., a data point that lies outside the rest of the distribution).<\/p><p>Using just this one example, we hope that we\u2019ve convinced you that we can all tell better stories with our data by using appropriate plots. Losing the (bar) plot and using an alternative plot to visualise data can help us better understand and communicate about data. We\u2019ll end with this popular meme by <a href=\"https:\/\/pagepiccinini.com\/about-me\/\">Page Piccinini<\/a> which nicely sums up the problem with bar plots.\u00a0 Make sure you tell your friends\u2026<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-3564c27 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"3564c27\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8c259f6\" data-id=\"8c259f6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9e2d1d7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"9e2d1d7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"690\" height=\"1393\" src=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/barplot_psa1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-1286\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/barplot_psa1.jpg 690w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/barplot_psa1-149x300.jpg 149w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/barplot_psa1-507x1024.jpg 507w, https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/barplot_psa1-615x1242.jpg 615w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts By Michael Lam, Mel Hyde, and Barbara Masser You have just finished analysing your data &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts - Donor Research Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts - Donor Research Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts By Michael Lam, Mel Hyde, and Barbara Masser You have just finished analysing your data &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Donor Research Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-17T22:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-16T22:44:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Lam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Lam\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Lam\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b78ae90920e8df43ac48e71627d7e4be\"},\"headline\":\"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-17T22:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-16T22:44:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":951,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/\",\"name\":\"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts - Donor Research Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-17T22:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-16T22:44:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b78ae90920e8df43ac48e71627d7e4be\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1576},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/losing-the-plot\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/\",\"name\":\"Donor Research Network\",\"description\":\"Donor Research Network\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b78ae90920e8df43ac48e71627d7e4be\",\"name\":\"Michael Lam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ded8467c6920767c73935b40d0d11ef6fb935e9989f1273f90289b297b7fbbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ded8467c6920767c73935b40d0d11ef6fb935e9989f1273f90289b297b7fbbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ded8467c6920767c73935b40d0d11ef6fb935e9989f1273f90289b297b7fbbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Lam\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\\\/dorn\\\/author\\\/mlam\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts - Donor Research Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts - Donor Research Network","og_description":"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts By Michael Lam, Mel Hyde, and Barbara Masser You have just finished analysing your data &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/","og_site_name":"Donor Research Network","article_published_time":"2019-01-17T22:54:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-16T22:44:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1576,"url":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Lam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Lam","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Lam","@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/#\/schema\/person\/b78ae90920e8df43ac48e71627d7e4be"},"headline":"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts","datePublished":"2019-01-17T22:54:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-16T22:44:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/"},"wordCount":951,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/","url":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/","name":"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts - Donor Research Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2019-01-17T22:54:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-16T22:44:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/#\/schema\/person\/b78ae90920e8df43ac48e71627d7e4be"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1576},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/losing-the-plot\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Losing the plot: Let\u2019s stop visualising everything with bar charts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/","name":"Donor Research Network","description":"Donor Research Network","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/#\/schema\/person\/b78ae90920e8df43ac48e71627d7e4be","name":"Michael Lam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ded8467c6920767c73935b40d0d11ef6fb935e9989f1273f90289b297b7fbbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ded8467c6920767c73935b40d0d11ef6fb935e9989f1273f90289b297b7fbbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ded8467c6920767c73935b40d0d11ef6fb935e9989f1273f90289b297b7fbbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Lam"},"url":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/author\/mlam\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EKHdk4IU8AAQ_XB-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.psy.uq.edu.au\/dorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}