Using Data Table, or Better Bar Chart

I've prepared this page as part of my response to the Using Data Tables blog entry in Kaiser's fine Junk Charts blog.

Kaiser contends that sometimes a table is better than a chart. The example given in his blog entry does in fact demonstrate that a table is better than the chart that was used, but a better chart can overcome his objections. In the first chart below, the decoupling of the two separate charts in the example is overcome by creating a single clustered bar chart with separate axes. In Excel this is a challenge because secondary series are usually plotted in from of the primary series. This is overcome using two dummy series to offset the real series to either side of the category, as described in Column Charts on Two Axes elsewhere on my web site. The relative values of each series can readily be compared within and between categories.

To provide actual numbers, one can easily add data labels to the chart's data points, and incorporate totals into the axis titles, as shown below.

I've posted a zipped workbook with my charts here: ClusterBarTwoAxes.zip.

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