What to Look for in Proportions
For proportions you usually look for three things: maximum, minimum, and the overall distribution. The first two are straightforward. Sort your data from least to greatest, and pick the ends for your maximum and minimum. If you were dealing with poll results, these could mean the most popular and least popular answers from participants; or if you were graphing calories from separate parts of a meal, you would see the biggest and smallest contributor to the overall calorie count.
You don’t need a chart though to show you minimum and maximum. What you are most interested in is the distribution of proportions. How does the selection of one poll choice compare to the others? Are calories spread evenly across fat, protein, and carbohydrates, or does one group dominate? The following chart types can help you figure that out.
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