>>Which type of graph do you think is best for showing Flores del Mundo’s membership trends over the course of the year?
– Based on Few’s work, I’d propose a line graph with points, given the ability to highlight the trend over time. As he notes, “lines do a great job of showing the shape of data as it flows and changes from point to point… the movement of values up and down through time”.

>>Does your answer change if you’re graphing total membership versus employee/spouse/dependent?
– I’d move from line graph with points, to a bar graph here. Intent would be to demonstrate part-to-whole, with stacked bars to display employee, spouse, and dependent member data over time.

>>Does your answer change if you want to show Eastern and Northern on the same graph?
– Here another time series where a bar graph, but without stacking, would be useful, placing Eastern and Northern data side-by-side for each time interval (be it monthly or quarterly).