Skip to main content
MedCalc
Mail a PDF copy of this page to:
(Your email address will not be added to a mailing list)
working
Show menu Show menu

Applying jitter in scatter diagrams

When there are overlapping data points in a scatter diagram, MedCalc can slightly shift ("jitter") the data points so that the markers do not completely overlap. You then have a visual indication that there are several data points with the same value, or almost the same value.

The following images show scatter diagrams, both for the same data.

The first graph is without jitter:

Scatter diagram with overlapping data points and no jitter is applied.

The following graph is with jitter applied.

Scatter diagram with overlapping data points but with jitter applied.

The jitter option is available for the following graphs:

When one of the axes of the graph does not represent a continuous variable (such as in multiple boxplots) MedCalc always applies jitter automatically.

How to select the jitter option

  • Click the Format graph button button in the Formatting toolbar; or
    right-click in the graph and click Format graph on the context menu.

  • Click the Options tab.
  • Click the Jitter overlapping data points option.

    Apply jitter option.

  • Click OK.