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Data comparison graphs

Command:Graphs
Next selectData comparison graphs

Description

Creates graphs for the comparison between 2 sets of data.

The graph can be composed from different elements: Bars, Horizontal lines, Markers and or Connecting lines for mean or median, with choice of different error bars for mean (95% CI, 1 SEM, 1 SD, 2 SD, 3 SD, range) or median (95% CI, 25-75 percentiles, 10-90 percentiles, 5-95 percentiles, 2.5-97.5 percentiles, 1-99 percentiles, range), Box-and-whisker plot or Notched box-and-whisker plot, Violin plot, and/or Dot plot (display all data).

Required input

You can select the graph type in the dialog box that appears after you click Data comparison graphs on the Graphs menu:

Dialog box for data comparison graphs

Several elements can be selected to compose the graph, and some of these can be combined.

The box-and-whisker plot in combination with dot plot has the advantage of displaying a statistical summary of the data (range, quartiles and median), without concealing the data.

If the data require a logarithmic transformation, select the Logarithmic transformation option.

Examples

Dual box-and-whisker plot:

Dual box-and-whisker plot

Notched box-and-whisker plots:

Notched box-and-whisker plots

Combined box-and-whisker and dot plot:

Combined box-and-whisker and dot plot

Literature

See also

Recommended book

Book cover

Exploratory Data Analysis
John W. Tukey

Buy from Amazon

The approach in this introductory book is that of informal study of the data. Methods range from plotting picture-drawing techniques to rather elaborate numerical summaries. Several of the methods are the original creations of the author, and all can be carried out either with pencil or aided by hand-held calculator.