Tableau Strategies

Chapter 3. Making Comparisons

Comparisons are at the heart of data visualization. Our audiences are often laser-focused on comparing two or more values. Our job as practitioners is to simplify the comparison of each set of values.

Some comparisons are easier than others. If you’re comparing two groups on a single value, your comparison is straightforward: use a bar chart. Most times, you should just use a bar chart simply because bar charts are the most versatile and common chart type used for comparisons.

But every bar chart presents one challenge: it’s a bar chart! Your audience has seen this chart type hundreds, thousands, or millions of times. In this chapter, we’ll offer you a few alternatives, such as Cleveland dot plots and lollipop charts, as well as various ways to format your bar charts.

When creating these alternative charts, really think about whether you’re seeking a bar chart for your audience’s needs or for your own. If it’s for you, keep it a bar chart. If it’s for your audience, perfect—use the alternative.

Not all comparisons are as straightforward as bar charts. Sometimes you are comparing across members of a dimension and at different time points within that member. Other times you’re comparing multiple members against multiple dimensions. Sometimes you’re worried about the actual metric, sometimes the rank of the value. Sometimes you’re interested in comparing values not against other members, but against the overall group.

In this chapter, we’ll provide other ...