Misleading Graphs

Misleading Graphs

Ashley Butler, David Varvaet, Steven Hill

University of Phoenix

Professor Gary White

June 27, 2011

Misleading Graphs

The misleading graph that has been chosen for this paper is from BP explaining the “top kill” strategy by the senior vice president Kent Wells in May 24, 2010. The video and article covers the clean up attempt from the oil spill in the Gulf Coast from the explosion of one of BP’s semi-submersible drilling rig in the deep water horizon. The BP graph is misleading to the public due to the cumulative data in regards to the bar graph instead of a line graph. The misleading factor is the average of 2,000 barrels of oil gathered per day, with increasing amounts every day after. When in fact the daily average oil being collected was 1,687 barrels and this amount was decreasing every day. A good comparison that BP should have done would have been to compare a bar graph alongside a cumulative line graph (Conway, L., A Misleading Graph).

Correcting Graphs

In order for BP to correct the misleading information on the graphs a few changes should be made. In a PowerPoint Presentation the comparison between the bar graph regarding the oil clean up verses a cumulative line graph. These two graphs will help lead the public to the truth instead of rounding up the 1,687 barrels to 2,000 barrels. The bar graph is good to show the dates the oil was collected. The cumulative line graph shows more efficient barrel count. In order for BP to be honest to the public in regards to the oil clean up the scale should be calculated at a lower amount of intervals in barrels such as 500 barrels at a time. If all these changes were made BP would defiantly appear more trustworthy of his and her effort in cleaning up the mess created during the explosion of the semi-submersible drill that caused the oil spill in the first place. The following graphs that have been prepared in this PowerPoint Presentation would defiantly provide BP with stronger credibility...