| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? 10:46 - Oct 13 with 1336 views | ElderGrizzly |
Yes, i know it sounds boring but this doesn’t help their accusation of Govt bias
|  | | |  |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 10:50 - Oct 13 with 1290 views | Herbivore |
Blimey. That's certainly something. |  |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 10:54 - Oct 13 with 1279 views | Dubtractor |
Trend graphs with non comparable scales is a real bug bear of mine.
That's before you even go near the different populations of those countries.
For any useful comparison you surely need to use a per head of population metric. |  |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 12:10 - Oct 13 with 1175 views | Illinoisblue |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 10:54 - Oct 13 by Dubtractor |
Trend graphs with non comparable scales is a real bug bear of mine.
That's before you even go near the different populations of those countries.
For any useful comparison you surely need to use a per head of population metric. |
Indeed “each country to its own scale” renders this utterly worthless as a graphic. |  |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 12:14 - Oct 13 with 1167 views | Clapham_Junction |
Did they draft in the Lib Dem leaflet writing team for this?
COVID can't win here! |  | | |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 12:45 - Oct 13 with 1093 views | bluelagos |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 12:10 - Oct 13 by Illinoisblue |
Indeed “each country to its own scale” renders this utterly worthless as a graphic. |
Disagree.
The graphs show a number of things. For each country you can see the local trend and tell whether the virus is growing, flat or dropping over the past few weeks.
You can also tell how their current levels compare to their own peak.
This tells a story of the effectiveness of the current measures in place in each country and whether those measures are likely to see an increase/decrease in the coming months (assuming the trends continue)
If they all used the same scale, all you would see is lots of very low down lines (for smaller countries) and you'd lose the ability to see the bits I highlighted. And they have written on the current number of cases to you can quickly compare countries actual cases too. |  |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 13:04 - Oct 13 with 1043 views | chicoazul |
Each country on its own scale, lol
The usual people will wet their pants over this incredibly dumb “graph” |  |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 13:41 - Oct 13 with 970 views | Illinoisblue |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 12:45 - Oct 13 by bluelagos |
Disagree.
The graphs show a number of things. For each country you can see the local trend and tell whether the virus is growing, flat or dropping over the past few weeks.
You can also tell how their current levels compare to their own peak.
This tells a story of the effectiveness of the current measures in place in each country and whether those measures are likely to see an increase/decrease in the coming months (assuming the trends continue)
If they all used the same scale, all you would see is lots of very low down lines (for smaller countries) and you'd lose the ability to see the bits I highlighted. And they have written on the current number of cases to you can quickly compare countries actual cases too. |
Surely any good graphic or visual should quickly and easily convey a main story. This is 16 different stories. | |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 14:09 - Oct 13 with 941 views | Trequartista |
These comparisons are almost meaningless. We do have a high infection rate compared to the rest of Europe, I think that’s clear, but these specific comparisons a) don’t account for population size b) don’t account for how many people are tested - these are not cases, these are positive tests and c) do not give any indication of how serious the cases are. Russia have lower case numbers but about 8 times as many deaths so their case numbers are clearly inaccurate. [Post edited 13 Oct 2021 14:10]
|  |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 14:22 - Oct 13 with 915 views | Steve_M |
It's a trend line for country rather than a comparative visualisation isn't it?
|  |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 16:59 - Oct 13 with 768 views | bluelagos |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 14:22 - Oct 13 by Steve_M |
It's a trend line for country rather than a comparative visualisation isn't it?
|
That's exactly what it is. And to help us, they've put the number of cases on each graph too.
What's it's not, and is not pretending to be, is a comparison of which countries have more or less Covid. For that it would be easy enough to show Covid cases per million - and that would have some use, but then you lose the trends of cases.
Whatever you show will always only ever be one piece of a jigsaw - and a limited piece, given different countries record and test differently.
But the beauty of those graphs is that the trend in each country is clear (and that doesn't need the exact same recording method in each country - rather just that say Spain/UK etc. doesn't change how it records cases) [Post edited 13 Oct 2021 17:09]
| |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 17:19 - Oct 13 with 729 views | borge |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 16:59 - Oct 13 by bluelagos |
That's exactly what it is. And to help us, they've put the number of cases on each graph too.
What's it's not, and is not pretending to be, is a comparison of which countries have more or less Covid. For that it would be easy enough to show Covid cases per million - and that would have some use, but then you lose the trends of cases.
Whatever you show will always only ever be one piece of a jigsaw - and a limited piece, given different countries record and test differently.
But the beauty of those graphs is that the trend in each country is clear (and that doesn't need the exact same recording method in each country - rather just that say Spain/UK etc. doesn't change how it records cases) [Post edited 13 Oct 2021 17:09]
|
Absolutely spot on with both of your posts.
I can see why people might feel their use is limited, but the point is to show/compare trends rather than show/compare actual case numbers. |  | | |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 17:21 - Oct 13 with 723 views | bluelagos |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 17:19 - Oct 13 by borge |
Absolutely spot on with both of your posts.
I can see why people might feel their use is limited, but the point is to show/compare trends rather than show/compare actual case numbers. |
Thx | |
| |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 19:04 - Oct 13 with 663 views | solomon |
The BBC, a place where all efforts are channelled into two areas,
Manchester United football club & strictly come dancing.
The rest is unimportant it seems. |  | | |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 19:21 - Oct 13 with 640 views | NthQldITFC |
| Covid Data presentation by the BBC - opinions from our resident data geeks? on 14:22 - Oct 13 by Steve_M |
It's a trend line for country rather than a comparative visualisation isn't it?
|
The trouble is that so many people will misinterpret it as comparative, either through laziness in studying the accompanying text or, to be blunt, lack of education. So you have to think very carefully about how you present stuff like this to the general public.
As Trequartista says above, these graphs are flawed in so many ways, and always have been. Even if you present a case rate per test, you are still at the mercy of how the testing is targetted from country to country, and even how the targetting of the testing in an individual country varies with time. Amongst other things...
I suppose the BBC and others should have a policy which says 'never present data side by side unless its source and standards are identical', but frankly they've been utterly crap at that since the start, and very slow to fix flaws in their scientific reporting standards. |  |
| # WE ARE STEALING THE FUTURE FROM OUR CHILDREN --- WE MUST CHANGE COURSE # | | Poll: | It's driving me nuts |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
