Questions: A data team at a public university wants to communicate to stakeholders about which foreign language courses are most popular with students. They create a data visualization that identifies the 38 different courses, then shows the number of students enrolled in each one. What type of data visualization should they create? Line chart Bar chart Pie chart Donut chart

Solution Steps

To determine the most suitable data visualization for showing the number of students enrolled in each of the 38 different foreign language courses, we need a visualization that effectively compares quantities across categories. A bar chart is ideal for this purpose as it allows for easy comparison of the number of students across different courses.

The question asks which type of data visualization should be used to show the number of students enrolled in 38 different foreign language courses. The options provided are:

• Line chart
• Bar chart
• Pie chart
• Donut chart

1. Line Chart: Typically used to show trends over time. It is not suitable for comparing discrete categories like different courses.

2. Bar Chart: Ideal for comparing quantities across different categories. It allows for easy comparison of the number of students enrolled in each course.

3. Pie Chart: Used to show proportions of a whole. With 38 categories, a pie chart would be cluttered and hard to interpret.

4. Donut Chart: Similar to a pie chart, it shows proportions. It would also be cluttered with 38 categories.

Given the need to compare the number of students across 38 different courses, a bar chart is the most appropriate choice. It allows for clear comparison and is easy to interpret.

Final Answer