Examplesofdiagrams.英文图表分析.doc

2.1. Examples of diagrams.1. X5Retail Group.X5Retail Group is a large Russian retail company. The company uses a multi-format strategy to meet customers requirements and develop three formats of stores: soft discounters, supermarkets and hypermarkets. According to its annual report 2007 (X5Retail Group Annual Report, 2007, p.15) X5Retail Group operated 674 soft discount stores, 179 supermarkets and 15 hypermarkets.The following charts express information about the net selling area and the net retail sales of each group of stores in percentage to the whole number.According to the first chart soft discounters occupy the largest area of 59% of the total, supermarkets 31% and the lowest figure of 10% relates to hypermarkets. Below the chart it is noted the total net selling area 609.2 thousand sq. m. From the second chart viewers can find out how the net sales are divided between soft discounters, supermarkets and hypermarkets. The figures are presented in percentage to the total net sales and are 56%, 37% and 7% respectively. The net retail sales for the year totaled $5.284 millions. The type of data presented by the diagrams is categorical as it describes three different kinds of stores. The authors intention is to provide information about each kind as well as the relation to the total. Thus, the choice of pie chart is relevant because it suits to the purpose of the message. Percentage bar charts could be an alternative. However, the implementation of charts is slightly misleading as they contain three different coloured circles and the first impression could be that the inner circles relate to the smaller group of stores. The division between categories is not obvious. It will be better to define each group with colour.2. Massive increase in house prices.This diagram (Misleading data, 2010) presents information about average house prices in 1998 and 1999. For 1998 the figure is 80000 and for 1999 it is 82000. There is a comparison of the same variable house price in different years. So, simple bar charts as a tool for this task as a suitable decision. However, the diagram is highly misleading as it makes an impression that price increased dramatically. This impression is getting even stronger with the expression “massive increase” in the title. In fact, price rose by 2.5%. The distorting result is provided by y axis which starts from 79000 according to the scale. As a consequence, scale division accounts for 80000 in one case and 1000 in two others. The author doesnt indicate this so as to attract viewers attention to the huge difference not to the misleading point. 3. Age and sex structure of population of Russia as at January 1, 2009.The diagram (Federal state statistics service, 2010) presents complex information about the population of Russia including the quantity of men and women in different age groups. It gives opportunity to observe the quantity of both men and women in different age group, how it is changing depending on age, and compare the figures of men and women of the same age. For example, after 65 years women evidently exceed men due to higher level of mortality among men. The other fact is that the infant group is bigger then children from two to five years because the birth rate has increased last years. The diagram is rather interesting as it consists of two parts: the left for men and the right for women. Male and female are nominal categories but the data presented the quantity of people concerning to different age group is continuous. Due to this fact histograms were chosen as a means of expressing the data. The diagram is very informative and comprehensive though some people may find it difficult to interpret. As an alternative to histograms or in addition to these histograms, I would suggest a graph with x