A sorted bar chart does not preserve the source-record order

Purpose. This exercise asks readers to separate a category label, a numeric value and an item's position. The five counts are invented training-card counts. They are a small practice dataset, with no observations of people, software performance or scientific outcomes. The display is intended to use increasing-count order; the source list below preserves the original handout order. Source records. Read each numbered record as an identifier and a value, rather than as a ranking: 1. Slate — 24 cards; 2. Birch — 6 cards; 3. Amber — 18 cards; 4. Cedar — 12 cards; 5. Fern — 30 cards. All counts use the same unit, cards. The names are arbitrary category labels. The source positions identify records in this fictional handout; they do not specify time, quality or importance. Read the display first. Locate the category labels beside the bars. Then read the numeric count associated with each label. With increasing-count sorting, the displayed order should be Birch, Cedar, Amber, Slate, Fern. Checking this order is part of the exercise: a title or caption can state a sorting intention, but a reviewer still checks the visible chart. If the order changes in a later version, record that change before using the answers below. Try these five questions. A. Which category occupies the second displayed position? B. Which category belongs to source record 2? C. Where should Slate appear in this version of the chart? D. Is the difference between Amber and Cedar 6 cards or 6 source positions? E. What additional source information would be needed before treating the bar order as chronological? Work from the category labels, counts and the numbered source list. A screen position alone is insufficient to identify a source record. Answer key. A. Cedar is second in the displayed increasing-count order, and its source position is 4. B. Birch belongs to source record 2 and appears first in the chart. C. Slate appears fourth, with 24 cards, while its source position is 1. D. The numeric difference is 18 minus 12, which is 6 cards; a source position is an identifier, not the unit of the count. E. A defined time field, its unit and an explicit temporal ordering rule are needed. The present dataset provides none of those temporal fields. Fern has the largest invented count, but that does not establish that it occurred latest or has greater merit. A repair prompt. Suppose a caption says, “The second bar is the second record in the handout.” Replace that sentence with “Cedar, shown second after increasing-count sorting, is source record 4 and has 12 invented cards.” This revision makes the category, visible position, source identifier, sorting rule, value and unit inspectable. It does not add a new observation. If the intended purpose were to show handout order instead, a separate version could retain that order, label the ordering rule and revise the answer key accordingly. Keep a review record. For one category, write seven fields: visible category label; count; unit; source position; displayed position; sorting rule; review decision. For Cedar in this version, the record is Cedar; 12; cards; 4; 2; increasing count; matches the declared rule. Recheck the category-to-value pairs after sorting, changing chart type or exporting. A different bar order can be legitimate when the rule is explicit and the underlying pairs remain intact. Authorship, access and reuse. Figran Team works on Figran, a commercial product. AI assisted this original educational text and invented data. This resource contains no measured learning benefit or research finding and does not require a Figran account or purchase. The external link opens the author-created Datawrapper chart and its complete teaching text without login. The source records, five questions and worked answers are also reproduced here so the activity can be completed on paper. Attribute Figran Team and the title, link https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, and indicate changes when reusing the teaching text and invented records. Software, platform code and brand assets retain their own terms. Contact: [email protected]. This is educational material, not a software listing or an independent product review.