The data equivalent of junk food: What it is and how to detect it.

Junk food is enticing, tasty but ultimately lacks substance, any hint of substantial nutrition, and is a health hazard.

 

Likewise, some data is the digital equivalent of junk food because it entices with the promise of substance, but lacks key ingredients and fails to offer valuable information.

 

We’ve previously written about one form of junk food data: the sort one finds in marketing masquerading as a survey.

 

An increasing variation of data malnutrition an be found in charts and tables which lack the key data to make them credible.

 

The following news release and charts were published by at least two prominent wine industry trade outlets with no critical eye toward the credibility or validity of data.

 

The charts below lack a Y-axis legend, and all of the percentages cited are undefined as to whether they pertain to dollar sales or wine volume. In addition, there is no indication describing the nature of the sampled organizations, geographic areas or how many organizations were sampled.

 

Those significant omissions earn this a Twinkie award for lack of data nutrition. Consume at your own risk.