As it has been said a picture is worth a thousand words and so it is with graphics too.
A well constructed graph can summarize information collected from tens to hundreds or even thousands of data points. But not every graph has the same power to convey complex information clearly. (more…)
Repeated measures is one of those terms in statistics that sounds like it could apply to many design situations. In fact, it describes only one.
A repeated measures design is one where each subject is measured repeatedly over time, space, or condition on the dependent variable.
These repeated measurements on the same subject are not independent of each other. They’re clustered. They are more correlated to each other than they are to responses from other subjects. Even if both subjects are in the same condition. (more…)
The scatterplot is a simple display of the relationship between two, or sometimes three, variables. You have a wide range of options for displaying a scatterplot. In particular, you can control the location, size, shape, and color of the points in your scatterplot.
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One activity in data analysis that can seem impossible is the quest to find the right analysis. I applaud the conscientiousness and integrity that
underlies this quest.
The problem: in many data situations there isn’t one right analysis.
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Good graphs are extremely powerful tools for communicating quantitative information clearly and accurately.
Unfortunately, many of the graphs we see today confuse, mislead, or deceive the reader.
These poor graphs result from two key limitations. One is a graph designer who isn’t familiar with the principles of effective graphs. The other is software with a poor choice of default settings.
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Many of us love performing statistical analyses but hate writing them up in the Results section of the manuscript. We struggle with big-picture issues (What should I include? In what order?) as well as minutia (Do tables have to be double-spaced?). (more…)