In decision-making documents, tabular data may not be rhetorically strategic

Transcription

1 In decision-making documents, tabular data may not be rhetorically strategic U.S. life insurance purchases by category, ($MM) Ordinary Group Industrial Total What single claim is being made by these data?

2 If these data support the claim you wish to express... U.S. life insurance purchases by category, ($MM) Ordinary Group Industrial Total

3 ...choose a chart (and caption) to express it U.S. life insurance purchases by category, ($MM) Total U.S. life insurances purchases have increased 135% during the last decade ($MM) Ordinary Group Industrial Total % Note the grayed data set (left) and the claim (right) that expresses it

4 If these data support the claim you wish to express... U.S. life insurance purchases by category, ($MM) Ordinary Group Industrial Total

5 ...choose a chart (and caption) to express it U.S. life insurance purchases by category, ($MM) Ordinary Group Industrial Total Year 2007 purchases of Ordinary far exceeded purchases of Group and Industrial ($MM) Ordinary Group Industrial $66 $470 $1230 Note the grayed data set (left) and the claim (right) that expresses it

6 Choosing the right chart Component Item Time Series Frequency Co-relation Column Bar Pie

7 To Show the Relative Size of the Components of a Whole... Use a Pie Chart start at noon, and go clockwise rank segments in decreasing order of size limit to 7-8 segments to avoid confusion express numbers in % rather than in absolute value, and position them inside the segments instead of using a legend, position the labels next to the segments highlight the pertinent segment(s) by shading or isolating Use a Stacked Column Chart position the largest segment on the base line and rank other segments in decreasing order of size limit to 7-8 segments to avoid confusion place values next to or within each stack follow other construction rules for pie charts Derived Forms = segmented bars, grouped bars

8 Company A has the smallest share of the industry Company A Company D Company B Company C

9 Four major agencies have splintered into many small businesses Agency D Agency A Agency C Agency B

10 Younger employees account for the smallest share of the sales force < 25 years >

11 The majority of employees under 30 years old did not get beyond high school < 30 Years old postgraduate college graduate high school graduate (All Employees)

12 The small number of our accounts over $1MM are responsible for the majority of our business Number of Accounts Revenues < $1MM > $1MM

13 To Show How Several Items Perform at a Given Point in Time...

14 Uneven sales performance suggests room for substantial improvement employee A employee B employee C employee D employee E employee F

15 Two divisions suffered losses during the recession Division 3 Division 5 Division 1 Division 4 Division 6 Division 2

16 New management practices have quickly reduced overtime in all activities Graphics Editing oct. sept. Word Processing Research

17 The majority of our employees leaving take jobs with our competitors Total Hires Enter family business Return to school % Leaving Take different type of job Miscellaneous Take jobs with competitors

18 To Show How Performance Varies with Time...

19 Revenues have increased six times since X

20 Except for the downturn in 2006, revenues have continually increased since

21 The downturn in 2006 temporarily slowed our growth in revenues

22 Since 2001, revenues have risen in every year except one