They then get confused because both axes aren’t quantitative and so they have to realize that their scatterplot assumption was wrong before they can even begin to understand what they’re looking at. Looks like a scatterplot: Many people seem to initially assume that they’re looking at a scatterplot, probably because almost every other chart that they’ve seen that featured dots arranged in a 2D space was a scatterplot. Why would so many people have trouble grasping dot plots when those very same people have no problem grasping bar charts and line charts, as well as other chart types that are arguably less intuitive, such as scatterplots? After watching thousands of people react to seeing a dot plot for the first time, a combination of factors now seems plausible: To those of us who are familiar with dot plots, this confusion seems strange. Participants regularly (and sheepishly) tell me that, even though they now understand how dot plots work and how useful they are, they won’t use them because their audiences won’t bother to figure them out. And yes, even without my explanation, most participants would eventually figure it out, although I wonder how many would bother to make that journey unaided. Following a 30-second explanation, the eyebrows come back up and a quiet “ooooh…” rises from the room. Yes, the confusion that my workshop participants experience is short-lived. Because there are no bar lengths to compare in a dot plot, the risk that viewers will mistakenly perceive that, for example, Brazil’s record is twice that of Indonesia is much lower, but they can also see the small differences between the values much more clearly and easily.
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