Table of contents

  1. Choosing the correct chart
  2. Choice of data
  3. Comparing data sets – shared horizons
  4. Comparisons of magnitude (size)
  5. Time series
  6. Bar charts for time series
  7. Line charts for time series
  8. Dot plot with line for time series
  9. Multiple time series
  10. Small changes over time, not starting the y-axis at zero
  11. Ranking
  12. Part-to-whole
  13. Deviation
  14. Distribution
  15. Correlation

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Time series

Rather than over-emphasising month-to-month or point-to-point comparisons of estimates a time series can show:

  • change
  • trend
  • fluctuation
  • growth
  • decline
  • increase
  • decrease

Time series axes

Time should always run from left to right along the horizontal axis.

Time series charts

A time series with regular intervals can be presented using line charts, bar charts or a combination of both.