[R] Question about which kind of plot to use

[Dylan Beaudette]

On Wednesday 19 December 2007, Max wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I've got a question about data representation. I have some psychometric
> data with 5 scores for 15 different groups. I've been asked to show
> some kind of mean plots. The data below is the mean and SD for a given
> group, unfortunately my employer doesn't want me posting full datasets.
>
> :(
>
>  The groups V,W,X,Y,Z are divided into Bottom, (B), Middle (M) and Top
> (T). An example of my data is shown below.
>
> Score 1
> Mean				             SD
> 	B	    M	    T		    B	  M	    T
> V	86.9	13.0	88.8		16.9  2.0	10.5
> W	16.1	96.1	17.7		2.2	  4.6	1.7
> X	50.7	61.1	74.7		4.7	  3.7	7.6
> Y	68.5	99.7	37.6		6.0	  8.0	2.3
> Z	92.7	22.3	69.4		6.5	  1.2	2.2
>
> What I did before was a standard mean plot:
>
> plotMeans(w$score1, w$Factor,
> error.bars="sd",xlab="Factor",ylab="Score",main="Group W Score 1 Plot")
>
>  However, with 15 groups and 5 scores this turns into 75 individual
> graphs. Is there a way to layer mean plots? Or show several mean plots
> in the Same graph? Any ideas or suggestions would be great.
>
> thanks,
>
> -Max
>

How about a lattice plot using panels ? plot the distribution of each score 
(box and whisker style), using a panel for each group?

a <- rnorm(100)
b <- rnorm(100)
c <- rnorm(100)
 d <- rnorm(100)

library(lattice)
new <- make.groups(a,b,c,d

new$grp <- rep(gl(5,20, labels=c('A','B','C','D','E')), 4)

bwplot(data ~ which | grp, data=new)

Not quite means, but close!

Dylan



-- 
Dylan Beaudette
Soil Resource Laboratory
http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/
University of California at Davis
530.754.7341