2.6 Discussion

Gapminder offers a lot more data than has been studied here. Graphics help bring the information out and help present it to others. The time series plots in this chapter have analysed just one variable, life expectancy at birth. If scatterplots are drawn, as Hans Rosling often did, and all the options available in the Gapminder software are used, two or more variables can be displayed. Analyses can quickly get very complicated, which just shows that graphics can be more difficult to work with than might be expected.

In a study reported by Tonnessen (2020), eighteen-year old schoolchildren were observed using Gapminder to carry out tasks set by their teacher. The researcher noticed several difficulties the participants faced, mostly because they did not have enough knowledge and experience of the software or with that kind of graphical display. The assumption that graphics are easy to understand is an easy, if mistaken, one to make.

Answers Life expectancy has improved dramatically, with some interruptions, over the last one hundred years, particularly for Western nations. Other countries have caught up a lot, but still lag behind. Data for the 19th century is incomplete and suspiciously constant.

Further questions Life expectancy is one of hundreds of indicators available from Gapminder, covering not only health, but education, environment and many other areas. There is an unlimited number of investigations that could be carried out.

Graphical takeaways

• One graphic is not enough. Different versions of the same graphic provide more information. (Figures 2.1 and 2.6)
• Graphics show information directly that analytic methods cannot find. (Figures 2.2 and 2.3)
• Faceting picks out differences within groups. (Figure 2.6)
• Unpolished graphics can still reveal important information. (Figure 2.1)