Link: https://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/leisure.htm
The chart above displays what individuals in the United States, over the age of 15 years old, spend on each activity during their leisure time. According to this chart, individuals appear to spend the most time watching TV, followed by socializing and communicating, etc, and all together comes to just under 5 hours of leisure time per day. At first glance, this chart appears to be acceptable; however, there appears to be under the surface a number of potential issues with this data, issues that are described by Huff in his “How to Lie with Statistics”. One of the biggest issues is that this data was collected in a 2015 survey. With this survey method used, one potential issue is the idea that the sample who responded to the survey was a bad, or not representative, sample. Perhaps the individuals who responded to the survey lied about the amount of time they spent on each leisure activity, whether it be to fit what they think is a normal amount, or for some other reason. This potential for dishonesty calls into question the validity of this data, for it is possible that respondents did not respond truthfully, and thus the data is skewed from what reality is. Additionally, another issue that could arise is the issue of who responded to the survey. It is more likely than not that those of a higher socioeconomic status would respond to this survey, for individuals of lower socioeconomic status may not have as much time to respond, and could also be self-conscious if they do not have much or any leisure time. On the other hand, those of the higher socioeconomic status most likely have more leisure time, and may even be inclined to lie to indicate that they have more than they actually do. Either way, as Huff mentions in his writing, there is the potential for this survey to be biased towards people with more money and more time. There is the potential for this survey to be biased in a number of ways, particularly with a focus on the potential for dishonesty, and for a nonrepresentative sample.
It is interesting to see the pie chart using minutes instead of percentage of the day used. I think it is a disadvantage because it makes it more difficult to read. However, it also makes it easier to compare individual activities as minutes/hours are more intuitive than percentages.
I agree with you that after reading Huffs article, it is clear that this chart can be very misleading, as well as I agree with all of your explanations of why. I also wanted to add that this pie chart is not very specific, as although it is divided into sections and labeled with the amount of minutes spent doing each activity, It calculates this up to a total of 5 hours of leisure time a day.. How do we know this is accurate? Are they imply kids at 15 should/normally have 5 hours a day of leisure time?
I think it is really important that you brought up the potential for dishonesty in respondents’ answers about the amount of leisure time spent per day and how much they think they should be spending. This is a problem with surveys like this where there is usually a societal norm about the question at hand and individuals are more likely to answer with respect to that norm rather than with the truth.