Choice of y-axis can mislead readers
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Erdogan, Betül R.
Vollert, Jan
Michel, Martin C.
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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.
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Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology, 393, Springer, Berlin u.a., 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-020-01926-x