How to Stay Out of Bars
T. Lang · 2002
OW that I have your attention, let me explain that the purpose of this article is to convince you that, in scientific publications, bar charts can be replaced with more informative dot charts. In addition, I show how writers and editors can easily create accurate dot charts in word-processing programs. This ability allows us to suggest improved figures to our authors in a format that is almost camera-ready. Sample data are given in the table. Vertical column charts (Figure 1) and horizontal bar charts (Figure 2) of these data use the length of thick columns or bars to represents the value of the data. Such charts are useful when projected from overhead transparencies or slides because the color and thickness of the bars make data visible to large numbers of people. However, they are neither necessary nor desirable for individual readers of the scientific literature. Figures 1 and 2 each display only the seven sample data points (here, median values, the values that divide distributions into higher and lower halves). The data, however, are overshadowed by the very weight of the bars that present them; that is,