By Marc Joseph

Source https://humanbenchmark.com/users/6523996c62704b00084820c5/reactiontime

Reaction Time Charts

There are many different ways one can use benchmarks in order to determine whether a measurable value is over or under an expected value. As shown by the reaction time benchmark from Humanbenchmark.com where I scored an average of 191 m/s which put me in the top 74.46% percentile. The graph that is darker represents my value while the lighter colors represent the standard of comparison, or the average of all the other users. As shown, my values are slightly skewed to the left which means that my reaction time is above average when compared to the values of the lighter blue.

Investing Charts

https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vadgx#performance-fees

Another application of benchmark comparisons would be an investment or stock that generates a projected profit after a certain period of time. As portrayed by investorvanguard.com, they have a bar graph that shows the amount of returns and projected returns within a year. The darker green color represents the current value while the light green represents the expected goal. They used a darker color to bring attention to the value that they want the reader to see the most and a lighter color in order for the other value to be less distracting.

All in all, there are many different ways to shows benchmarks and simplify information. One can use bar graphs, line graphs, bell curve, and many more options in order to accurately portray data. Using the data, the audience can then make a more informed decision on their topic of interest (i.e. stocks, investing etc.). Hopefully this article gave you a good idea of the effectiveness of benchmarks and their many uses.

Benchmarks are a commonly used feature in many data visualization charts, as they help to compare data in a comprehensive and easy way for viewers of all sorts. More frequently, we see benchmarks used to show things such as a budgeted/projected amount or numbers compared to the actual numbers for a specific data set, whether it be for a school, company, test, or experiment.

The unique thing about benchmarks is that they can be shown on graphs in a multitude of ways, from dotted lines and solid lines to different bars and solid colors on charts. Another notable feature about benchmarks is that there is no specific category that they have to be used for, meaning they could be used in/represent important statistical data or even smaller, less important information.

The example above is an instance where the benchmark line is used in a more serious setting and is represented by a dotted line on the line graph. The graph was taken from a New York Times article that discusses the current issue in the Antarctic Sea. As shown in the graph, this September marked the lowest ever recorded peak of sea ice, endangering wildlife. The red line represents the current levels recorded of the Antarctic Sea ice. In many scenarios, this would be considered the “actual” data in the graph/chart. In this specific graph, there are two types of benchmark (comparison) data. The first being the faded light gray lines that represent previous recordings of the sea ice level and the second is the dotted line with the average sea ice level, which is the main benchmark data and the comparison area. This chart was a great way to display this information, as it is clear to see the difference in sea ice throughout the years thanks to the comparison data/benchmark line.

As previously mentioned, benchmark data sets can be used to represent and compare serious and important data, as well as data that is simply for fun. The chart above is a different presentation of a benchmark that takes on a less serious meaning. Serena Williams is a tennis player, and last year the New York Times put together an article and data visualization to compare Serena William’s age to all of the other people she has played and either won or lost to in each match. The gray solid line going across the entire scatter plot represents the benchmark (comparison) data, in which Serena Williams was the same age as her opponents. From here, it is easier to see how she performs with people younger than her, her age, and people older than her. While this type of chart looks chaotic, it is another perfectly acceptable use of a benchmark line within a data visualization.

In conclusion, benchmarks can be created and shown on almost any time of chart or graph that is trying to compare two or more things. It is an excellent tool that people can use to provide others with a better understanding of a situation. In different articles and publications that feature graphs, you will see them presented in a variety of ways depending on how the author chooses to do it. While none of the ways to show a benchmark are wrong, some are better suited for specific presentations of data. For instance, having a bar graph with overlapping bars to show the benchmark for all of Serena Williams’s matches and ages of opponents would have been acceptable, but a lot more confusing and chaotic than the scatter plot used with a simple solid benchmark line.

According to Merriam-Webster, a benchmark can be defined as something that serves as a standard by which others may be measured or judged. There are several benchmarking techniques used by businesses and individuals around the world. A few examples are benchmark lines, combo charts, overlapping bars, et cetera.

In this post, I am going to discuss how others use benchmarking techniques. The first example discussed in the blog highlights the use of line graphs to compare the performance of a stock to the S&P 500 (the industry average). The second example compares Arizona valley’s fire response time. Benchmarking can also help organizations identify areas, systems, or processes for improvements—either incremental (continuous) improvements or dramatic (business process re-engineering) improvements

The data visualization above was sourced from The New York Times‘s website. Two line graphs are used to show how Nasdaq composite Index compares against the S&P 500. The S&P 500 acts as the industry benchmark. From this visualization, it is clear to see NASDAQ stocks are more volatile than the S&P 500. This helps investors to make informed decisions about their investments.

The author of this post uses external benchmarking to compare fire response times across multiple jurisdictions. Adding a benchmark line to a graph gives loads of content to the viewer. You can easily see that the benchmark mark response time for all the categories is 5.15 seconds. Several jurisdictions showed up minutes after the benchmark time while other categories also showed up before the benchmark time. A combo chart is used when each category is compared to a different benchmark

By Emmanuel Mattey

A benchmark is used to display relative performance and allows readers to compare data. Benchmarking is typically useful when you want to compare the performance against a certain average or a certain standard.

For example, the graph below compares winter temperatures in the US from the 1900s to 2018 to the 20^th century average temperature. The graph shows that on average, US winters are getting warmer

Source https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-jan-23-2019.html

The second graph also shows that oceans are generally getting warmer. It also shows both deep and shallow ocean warming and it demonstrates that the shallow part of the ocean, that is the portion of the ocean closest to the surface is heating up at a faster rate than the deeper part of the ocean.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/climate/ocean-warming-climate-change.html

The final 3 graphs discuss global carbon emissions. In the first infographic, we see past emissions and projected global emissions. The second infographic compares historical emissions with the pledges that were made under the Paris agreement on climate change and the third one shows what actually needs to be done to keep global warming under 2 degrees by 2030. By comparing all 3 graphs, one will notice that both the Paris agreement and the projected emissions contain higher emission levels and this means that by 2030, global warming would have exceeded 2 degrees Celsius and the impact of global warming and climate change will get worse.

This blog explains the comparisons that I found The New York Times uses with their benchmark graphs. My comparison is based on the 2022 Presidential Election Results. News companies tend to use benchmark graphs to explain Presidential and political races. It shows the number needed to be elected, along with each state’s final vote. 2020 was a unique situation because there were multiple recounts for the final voting results, which is shown on the map graph below.

This benchmark represents 270 points needed for one of these competitors to win the overall election. Even with the recount of multiple states, multiple times, there was still a winner, which is our current President, Joe Biden. He was elected with 74 more points than former President Donald Trump.

By Nick Ligameri

Today we are going to take a look at different ways you can use infographics to show comparisons to a benchmark. According to Google, benchmarking is when you “evaluate or check (something) by comparison with a standard.”  There are many benefits and reasons to benchmark.  According to bbgbroker.com, benchmarking is useful because it shows you how something stacks up against competitors, improves efficiency and effectiveness, allows you to track the progress of goals and objectives, and discover new growth opportunities.  The results can be used to motivate staff and hold people accountable, boost the performance of sales, and improve the quality of products. 

The first benchmark we are looking at is comparing Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey compared to the actual daily mortgage rates.  The Wall Street Journal utilizes line graphs to show the data.  This infographic is powerful because you immediately see that Freddie Mac’s data always lags the actual mortgage rates.  This is important because if you are in the market to buy a house, you want to have accurate mortgage rates.  If you use old data that is up to a half percentage point off, that could lead to thousands of dollars difference in what you think you can afford compared to what you can afford.   

The Wall Street Journal points out a few reasons that Freddie Mac’s data is lagging behind the actual data.  One reason is that, right now, the housing market is extremely volatile.  Historically, mortgage rates do not move as quickly as they are now.  A weekly benchmark was usually a good measure of the market.  Because the market is more volatile, there is a need for a more accurate benchmark.  Another reason for the lag in data is that reported mortgage data is usually about a month behind what is happening.  This is because it takes between thirty and forty-five days for a home purchase to close. 

Another use of a line graph benchmark is this one that compares Tesla to the S&P 500.  This is more straightforward.  If you’re an investor who is looking to outperform the market, this is a useful tool.  Using Barron’s comparison tool, you can see how different stocks compare to the index of your choice.  You can change the range from the most recent day to all of the historical data available for the stocks you are comparing.  This chart shows that, over the last year, Tesla has regularly performed better than the S&P500.  Tesla may be a stock you would want to invest in. 

The next type of benchmark chart we will be looking at is a horizontal bar chart.  This one is a bit different because instead of showing how something compares to a standard, it is showing parity between two different things: imports and exports. The “benchmark” here is the balance between the UK’s imports to the EU compared to its exports to the EU.  A glance at the first chart shows that, overall, the UK imports more than it exports.  A deeper dive shows how the UK imports and exports compare in different industries.  The next graph shows that the UK heavily imports automobiles from different countries.  The last chart shows that the UK provides a lot of financial services to the EU.  The practical use of these graphs would be to show where the UK could improve its exports if it wishes to be less reliant on its neighboring countries. 

There are many different ways to show a benchmark.  The line chart is probably one of the most common in business.  The horizontal bar chart shown here is a bit different from the norm and I liked how you can quickly understand what you are being shown.  You can also gather a lot of information and make many different decisions based on how you break down the data.  Hopefully, this helped show you some of the many uses of benchmark graphs.