This paper investigates the effect of presenting uncertainty in bar and line charts in trend-finding and comparison tasks. Different options for presenting uncertainty were investigated in a carefully designed user evaluation that was conducted on statistical analysts, policy makers and journalists (N = 108). The study includes exploring several options for displaying interval estimates with and without point estimates in line and bar charts. We discuss the results for all options and derive presentation suggestions. Our study indicates that showing uncertainty improves the validity of user statements and that data without point estimates have different display needs.
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