Graphs and Charts!

The RWU statistic that I decided to work with was the ethnicity population. I wasn't alarmed either when I saw the numbers and how we as a student body did not have much of a diverse population. So, with this being the story I wanted to tell, I wanted to make sure I chose the best type of graph that could really show people how weak the diversity is at this school, but I knew it wasn’t going to be hard since the numbers are so radical.    Anyways, I was not looking forward to using Excel because I have never used it before and had no idea how to go about making a chart/graph. So, I watched a quick tutorial on how to go about this assignment. Once I succeeded in filling out the Y and X-axis, I found that I had multiple graphs and charts to choose from. In my personal opinion, I prefer using any sort of pie chart, because I feel it gives off a better visual effect rather than scatter plot or bar graphs. I also feel that pie charts are more effective with conveying helpful information because the way we look at a circle is a whole and when it is divided up into different colors, it really gives the viewer a realistic concept.
          With looking at the pie charts, you can also really see the different ethnicities due to the colors. The colors really help tell the story of the lack of diversity in this community. Without the colors, like the line and bar graphs, the information is rather confusing because since the colors are the same, the viewer might assume that the ethnicities being represented are the same. 

         However, I did explore using other various charts/graphs. Next one, after the pie example, I choose the bar graph but in two different looks, one with a horizontal appearance and one with a more vertical look. The vertical one, I felt, was rather confusing and you could only see the Caucasian percentage where as the pie chart showed every percentage even if some of the numbers where close together. The horizontal pie graph was a little more effective because it showed a slight difference in the various ethnicity populations.

         Even though I don't think scatter/line graphs are effective, I still experimented with using them. They appeared as if a mountain but to really see a difference in the different percentage of ethnicities, I feel as if you would really have to look at it up close because some of the points appeared as if they were at the same line, but I'm thinking that has to do with how dramatic the white population is at this school. 

         Unfortunately, I wish I could have had my graphs appear differently. While searching for statistics, I came across a graph just like mine, but each section was labeled with the appropriate percentage next to each color. Either excel didn’t give me the option of doing that or I just couldn’t figure it out.

         Furthermore, I found that using these programs and customizing my charts helped me portray a more efficient visual story to viewers rather than just showing them numbers. Also,  by using colors, it helped portray the information more clearer and helped the viewer better understand what the information/chart was trying to say. Even though I felt my graphs/charts could have shown more numbers next to the bars/pie divisions, I still think they did their job on representing a RWU ethnicity student body.