Scenario
In this assignment you will undertake two distinct tasks. First, you will develop an evaluation criteria for charts, tables and graphs and second, you will use the criteria you have just developed to evaluate the suitability of the charts, table and graphs in a publically available report of your choice( subject to the conditions listed later in this document).
Overview
For this assignment, we will use the ideas and concepts introduced in Module 1 to evaluate the presentation of information.
The evaluation will centre on the suitability of Charts, Tables and/or Graphs used to represent data. The source document of these Charts, Tables and/or Graphs will be a published report frog a Government or significant Organization of your choice. (An example of a suitable annual report can be found at the end of this document under Supporting Materials.)
There are many suitable reports that you can use for your evaluation and you might be comfortable selecting a document that is aligned with your current field of study. For instance, if you were a Business student then you might like to choose a listed (public) company's Annual Investor Presentation (the example). These types of reports can be sourced from a public company's website (usually under Investor Centre) or the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Overall, other sources could be international organisations (e.g. World Health Organisation (WHO)), government departments or enterprises (e.g. Education Departments, water authorities, etc.).
Requirements
Task 1: Develop an evaluation criteria of the Report Presentation
Your evaluation criteria need to stipulate the guidelines, or rules, you would use in establishing whether a Chart, Table or Graph used in your selected Report is appropriate such that a person can readily understand, or appreciate, the message being conveyed.
Your criteria should ideally address approximately 20 ideas.
Task 2: Evaluate the Report
Utilising the evaluation criteria you developed in Task 1, identify good representations of data (i.e. indicate why a particular Chart, Table or Graph is an appropriate explanation of the underlying data). Additionally, you are to identify any misleading, or potentially misleading, representations of data (i.e. indicate why a particular Chart, Table or Graph is inappropriate).
Note: When evaluating the report, make sure to associate your selected Chart, Table or Graph back to your criteria (suggest you either include the visualisation itself or a reference to a page or graphic name). Additionally, be mindful not to praise/criticise a Chart, Table or Graph if that is inconsistent with your criteria.
The number of Charts, Tables or Graphs you evaluate should total approximately 12 to 15 overall and be diverse in nature (i.e. both appropriate and "any: misleading representations of data).