Description of continuous data using bar graphs: a misleading approach

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Author: Edson Zangiacomi Martinez
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2015
• Subjects: Biostatistics; Descriptive statistics; Medical research; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0013-2015; https://doaj.org/article/6a3020d521a945c8931abcb3fffd4dae

INTRODUCTION: With the ease provided by current computational programs, medical and scientific journals use bar graphs to describe continuous data. METHODS: This manuscript discusses the inadequacy of bars graphs to present continuous data. RESULTS: Simulated data show that box plots and dot plots are more-feasible tools to describe continuous data. CONCLUSIONS: These plots are preferred to represent continuous variables since they effectively describe the range, shape, and variability of observations and clearly identify outliers. By contrast, bar graphs address only measures of central tendency. Bar graphs should be used only to describe qualitative data.