Authors:	Erdogan, Betül R. Vollert, Jan Michel, Martin C.
Title:	Choice of y-axis can mislead readers
Online publication date:	6-May-2021
Year of first publication:	2020
Language:	english
Abstract:	Using two examples from the non-scientific literature, we show how choice of unit of measure and scaling of y-axis can caused a biased perception of data, a phenomenon we propose to call perception bias. We recommend to pre-specify unit of measure or how it will be determined, whether outcome variables will be shown as absolute or relative/normalized changes, and to typically start y-axis at 0 for ratio variables.
DDC:	610 Medizin 610 Medical sciences
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 09 Chemie, Pharmazie u. Geowissensch.
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-5746
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
License:	CC BY
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal:	Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology 393
Pages or article number:	1769 1772
Publisher:	Springer
Publisher place:	Berlin u.a.
Issue date:	2020
ISSN:	1432-1912
Publisher URL:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-020-01926-x
Publisher DOI:	10.1007/s00210-020-01926-x
Appears in collections:	JGU-Publikationen