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Chart Integrity
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Audit charts before they leave your desk

Integrity rulebook

Rules for charts you can defend

56 versioned checks separate material integrity failures from design preferences. Every audit cites the evidence, reader consequence, and smallest repair.

Rule set 2.0 · 56 rules · 102 synthetic reference cases

Coverage

Seven ways a chart can lose integrity

  1. Evidence boundaries

    States what the supplied evidence can and cannot establish

    CI-EVID-001–0055 rules

  2. Source and provenance

    Keeps origin, date, population, and measurement context attached

    CI-SOURCE-001–0066 rules

  3. Math

    Recomputes change, denominator, unit, and comparison compatibility

    CI-MATH-001–0088 rules

  4. Visual encoding

    Checks whether position, length, area, color, and scale preserve the values

    CI-VIS-001–01212 rules

  5. Parts and whole

    Tests mutually exclusive categories, totals, and composition claims

    CI-PIE-001–0066 rules

  6. Claims

    Separates comparison, trend, association, and causal language

    CI-CLAIM-001–0077 rules

  7. Context and readability

    Flags disclosure and legibility problems without confusing taste with truth

    CI-CTX-001–01212 rules

Public reference

10 rules behind the first audits

CI-EVID-005EvidenceDo not call an image-only audit verifiedPixels can establish visible contradictions, not hidden numeric correctness.CI-SOURCE-002SourceExternal charts need source contextState the source, as-of date, unit, population, and time coverage when applicable.CI-MATH-002MathPercent and percentage points are differentA move from 40% to 50% is 10 percentage points and a 25% relative increase.CI-MATH-004MathComparisons need compatible measuresUnits, populations, currencies, denominators, and time windows must align.CI-VIS-001VisualBar charts start at zeroBar length encodes magnitude, so a truncated baseline changes the perceived ratio.CI-VIS-002VisualDo not bridge missing periodsA line must break when an observation is missing unless interpolation is explicit.CI-VIS-003VisualDo not manufacture agreement with dual axesIndependent scales can make unrelated series appear synchronized.CI-VIS-005VisualNormalized stacks must resolve to 100%Compatible positive parts must form one stated whole within rounding tolerance.CI-VIS-006VisualMarks must preserve the ordering of their valuesA larger value cannot be represented by a shorter mark on the same visual scale.CI-CLAIM-002ClaimAssociation is not causationA relationship in the supplied data cannot establish a causal mechanism on its own.