In Exercises 17–20, identify how the graph is deceptive.

Question

Cost of Giving Birth According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the typical cost of a C-section baby delivery is $4500, and the typical cost of a vaginal delivery is $2600. See the following illustration.

Illustration of a clear baby bottle with a brown nipple and a maroon cap, used to represent healthcare costs. Illustration of a baby bottle with a pink cap and a brown nipple, representing infant feeding.

Accepted Answer

Hello, everyone. Let's take a look at this question together. Identify how the graph could be misleading. In a recent study, the costs of two medical treatments were compared. The average cost of treatment A was 7200, while the average cost of treatment B was 4300. The following graphic illustration compares the costs. See the following illustration, where we have two flasks, which the first and larger flask represents the cost of treatment A, and the second and smaller flask represents the cost of treatment B. And we have to determine, is it answer choice A, the graph should have used a different liquid cooler to improve clarity. Answer choice B, the graph accurately represents the cost difference without distortion. Answer choice C, the flasks are scaled in both width and height, making the cost difference look larger than it actually is, or answer choice D, the difference in costs is too small to be represented in a graph. So, in order to solve this question, we must first understand the data that the problem is giving us, such as the costs of 2. Medical treatments, which includes the average cost of treatment A being 7200 and the average cost of treatment B being 4300. And so we have our two flasks which represent the cost of treatment A and the cost of treatment B, where treatment A has an average cost of 7200. And treatment B has an average cost of $4300. So in order to determine how much more expensive treatment A is when compared to treatment B, we use a ratio of the cost of treatment A divided by the cost of treatment B, and we plug in the values for the average costs of both treatment A and treatment B, resulting in 7. 1200 divided by 4300, giving us a value of 1.67. Therefore, treatment A is only 1.67 times the cost of treatment B, which looking at the image, we can identify that the height of the first flask representing the cost of treatment A is a lot larger than the height of the flask representing. Treatment B, making treatment A look far more expensive than it actually is, as the actual cost of treatment A is only 1.67 times the cost of treatment B. In addition, the amount of liquid that is in both of the flasks may cause the viewer to interpret the total volume of the liquid, rather than comparing the cost difference proportionally. Leading to a misinterpretation. So this image of the two flasks representing the costs of treatment A and treatment B does not accurately represent the difference in the average costs. And looking at our answer choices, we can identify that answer choice C is the correct answer, as the graphic illustration comparing the costs of both treatments. Includes flasks that are scaled in both width and height, which makes the cost difference look larger than it actually is, as we know that treatment A is only 1.67 times the cost of treatment B. So answer choice C is the correct answer, and all other answer choices are incorrect. I hope you found this video to be helpful. Thank you and goodbye.

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Key Concepts

Graphical Misrepresentation

Cost Comparison

Contextual Interpretation

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