Multiple Pie Charts

[Kathleen]

I have two years worth of data that I would like to put in separate pie
charts - side by side. Is there a way to do this with one chart that
contains two pies or do they have to be two separate pies? I'm actually
doing this in Word and I was concerned about getting everything to line up
correctly.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi Kathleen,

First thing - what version of Word are we talking about here?

Unless you are working in 2007, it would be best to post this to Word if you
are doing it in Word.

 

[Jon Peltier]

Tufte once said, The only thing worse than a pie chart is multiple pie
charts (or words to that effect). A pie chart by itself is a poor choice to
show all but the most trivial sets of data. Despite people's
over-familiarity with pie charts, they do not read these charts as
accurately as they think they do. Putting two pies side by side forces the
user to make comparisons between two sets of hard to comprehend data sets.

In addition to the difficulty the user has with multiple pie charts, the
creator has to use separate charts, and try to line them up and size them
equally. Could you use a line chart with two sets of lines, or better,
something like a Dot Plot?

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/DotPlot.html

- Jon

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi Jon,

I have all but the very latest Tufte book, you must remember the Napoleon
march into Russia chart, no? He was out here doing a full day class, but I
didn't go because it was about $300.

 

[Jon Peltier]

I took his class a few years back, very worthwhile. The fee includes three
or four of his books, plus a large poster of the Napoleon's March chart. The
fee was a business expense anyway.

- Jon

 

[Gklass]

Kelley O'Day explains it well:
http://processtrends.com/TOC_data_visualization.htm#Whats_Wrong_With_Pie_Charts

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi Jon,

A business expense, now why didn't I think of that! I work for myself, but
I could still write it off, thanks for a great idea!

 

[Jon Peltier]

Plus the mileage there and back, and half of lunch.

- Jon