The big idea
📊
The best misleading charts contain no false numbers
They select, scale, and frame. Learning to read the frame is the skill.
Scientific Thinking · Lesson 1
Data and Graphs
beginner⏱ 17 min · 7 cards
Try it
Reframe the Chart
“Body temperature plotted on an axis from 35 °C to 40 °C.”
Is the chart choice honest for the question being asked?
Judge whether each framing is honest for the question asked.
Four questions
Interrogate any chart
Tap each.
January 1986
The flights that were left off
Pre-launch, O-ring damage was plotted against temperature — for damaged flights only.
Include the flights with no damage and the cold-weather pattern is far clearer. Showing only cases where the outcome occurred can hide the relationship you are arguing about.
Nuance
The habit
Think like a Maester
Ask what is not on the chart. Excluded cases and the years just outside the frame are where the argument hides.
Quick check
When is a truncated y-axis legitimate?
You did it
Nice work
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