Graphs in Business and Newspaper - Essay Example

Lastly, the pie chart is important in showing the competitive position of a company against its competitors. Shares of companies in an industry are illustrated through a pie chart as well as the contribution of sales among geographic locations.

Refer to Lind, misleading graphs, pp. 15-17. Find an example from the Internet (list the URL) that shows a graph or chart that is misleading.

            Misleading graphs becomes a problem in portraying the real situation. This is as worse as distorting the data set as these are both done to exaggerate and convey wrong information to the reader. The graph on the equity market posted on Yahoo Finance is an example of a misleading graph. It should be noted that the Dow and Nasdaq markets are shown in two-line graphs which use different intervals. Also, the graphs are misleading because the horizontal axes did not start at zero making the movements in composite price indices appear very large even if this is not the case. This problem can be remedied by displaying the performances of Dow and Nasdaq on one graph. Also, the horizontal axis should start at zero to give investors an appropriate view of the changes in composite price indices.   
Feedback on Focus Group

            The use of a focus group can be very helpful in gathering qualitative data especially in the lifestyle of a specific market niche. However, it is also irrefutable that this type of data gathering is ineffective in securing quantitative information if most of the members are not screened and lack the credibility to give an opinion. It should be noted that if the moderator can screen several focus group members which credible to give quantitative data, the information gathered can be considered to be reliable. For example, if the purpose of the focus group is to find the market size of a specific industry, the data gathered can already be considered accurate the members comprise a chunk of the market share. For example, three market players which or 90% of all shares. Focus groups also are used in gathering quantitative data which is too costly to obtain when using other methods which require a sample size. The market can be studied more closely through the use of focus groups because niches are often very small compared to the whole market. Yet, if data gathering involves finding quantitative data for the whole population, this method might fall short in giving accurate information.