Basics and Beyond: Displaying Your

Data

Mario Davidson, PhD

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Department of Biostatistics
Instructor
 Objectives
1.Understand the types of data and levels of
measurement
2.Understand how a Table 1 typically looks
3.Be able to interpret all of the basic graphs.
4.Know the type of displays that may be used
dependent upon the type of data and level of
measurement
5.Be introduced to less familiar displays of the data
 Types of Data (Obj1)
Qualitative Data
●

●
Consist of attributes, labels, or non-numerical entries.
●
If you can’t perform mathematical operations or order data,
it’s qualitative.
●
Ex: Colors in a box of crayons; names; county
Quantitative Data
●

●
Consist of numerical measurements or counts.
●
Ordering is a dead give away
●
Ex: BMI; age; numerical grade
 Levels of Measurement (Obj1)

●
Nominal
●
Qualitative
●
Categorized using names, qualities, or labels
●
Ex: Top 5 movies, jersey numbers, type of drug
●
Ordinal
●
Quantitative or Qualitative
●
Can order
●
Differences between data are not meaningful.
●
Ex: Letter grade, Likert scale such as very
dissatisfied to very satisfied
 Levels of Measurement (Obj1)

Interval Level of Measurement

●

●
Quantitative
●
Can order
●
Can calculate meaningful differences
●
No Value that means “nothing/none.” A zero entry merely
represents a position on a scale (i.e. no inherent zero).
●
Ex: Time of day, temperature
Ratio Level of Measurement
●

●
Quantitative
●
Can order
●
Can calculate meaningful differences
●
There’s a value that means “nothing/none.”
●
Ex: Age, weight, test score
Popular Displays
 Description of Table 1 (Obj2)
 Typically summarizes baseline characteristics of the data.
 Compares statistics between groups

 May provide means, medians, confidence intervals,

percentiles, percentages, p-values, standard deviations,

etc.
 Summaries of all types of data (e.g. continuous,

categorical, nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) may be used.

 Likert scale: Scale indicating degree of agreement (e.g.

Rate the following statement: I have a had a difficult time

focusing on my studies this semester: SD D N A SA
Example of a Table 1 (Obj2)
 Test Your Knowledge

Interpret the following graphs.

 Test Your Knowledge

Interpret the following graphs.

Cherry or Apple Pies sold the Nearly 15 subjects chose

most in January. “Other” pies Saturday as their favorite
sold the least day. Sunday was the least
chosen.
 Pie Charts (Obj3)

Features (Obj4)
– Nominal or Ordinal
– Compares Levels of One
Characteristic

Advantages:

Easily Interpreted
• Larger Area; Greater
Proportion

Easy to Create

Disadvantages

Difficult to Judge Areas

Wastes Ink
 Bar Plots (Obj3)

Features (Obj4)
– Nominal and
Ordinal
– Compares

Advantages

Same as Pie Chart

Disadvantages

Similar to Pie Chart

No such thing as an
Analyte 2.5

Ordering can Change
Perception
Test Your Knowledge

Interpret the following graphs

 Test Your Knowledge

The most frequent BMI seems to be There were 8 subject weighing

approximately around 24-26. approximately 0 grams. There
was only one weighing 10 grams.
Histograms (Obj3)
 Features
– Shows Distribution
– Continuous
– One Characteristic (Obj4)
 Advantages
 Easy to Interpret
 Easy to Produce
 Disadvantages
 Size of Bins can Change
Perception
 Cannot Read Exact Values
 Dot Plot (Obj3)
 Features (Obj4)
– One Characteristic
– Ordinal
 Advantages

 Good for Small and

Moderate Data
 Easily Interpreted

 Disadvantages

 May not be Best Option

with Large Data

 Not Produced in all

Packages
 Stem and Leaf Plot (Obj3)
 Features (Obj4)
– One Characteristic
– Ordinal
 Advantages
 Useful with Small Data and
May be Used with Large Data
 Can be produce by hand
 Easily Interpreted
 Useful with Numeric
 Disadvantages
The most frequent USMLE1 scores in our  May be Difficult to Measure
data were in the 220's, 230's, and 260's. Center
The highest and lowest scores were 190
and 278 respectively.
 Not Appealing
 Test Your Knowledge

Why is this graph difficult to 
What is the trend?
interpret? 
An outlier is data that is a

What is the trend? numerical distance from the
rest. Can you find one?
 Test Your Knowledge

There is no y-label.

R is a statistical software.

From Jan-Dec, there is an
upward trend.

Seems to be a slight positive
trend: as age increases so
does POMS.

The arrows suggest 2
possibly outliers.
Line Graph (Obj3)
 Features (Obj4)
– One Characteristic
– Used with Ordinal
and Continuous
– Displays
Associations,
Trends, and
Range
 Advantages
 Produced in Most
Packages
Line Graph with Rugplot
 Scatterplot (Obj3)
 Features (Obj4)
– Continuous and Ordinal
– Shows Associations
– Shows Trend
 Advantages
 Shows all of Data
 Produced in Most Packages –
not the Line
 Exact values shown
 Easily Interpreted
 Disadvantage
 May not be Best Way for Large
Data
Less Familiar Graphs
 Boxplot (Obj3 and Obj5)
 Features
 Continuous by Nominal or
Ordinal (Obj4)
 May Compare Groups
 Advantages
 Good Summary: Min, 1Q,
2Q(median), 3Q, Max
 Disadvantages
 Does not Display All the
Data
 Not as Appealing
 Cannot be Created in All
Packages
 May not be as Recognized
by Some
 Boxplot
 The median tooth length for orange
juice at 1dose of Vitamin C was
roughly 25 units.
 The first quartile length for 1 dose of
ascorbic acid was approx. 15.
 As Vitamin C doses increase tooth
length increases. Overall, it
appears that those using orange
juice had greater length given the
same dose and excluding possibly a
Vitamin C dose of two.
 There was an outlier for the ascorbic
acid at dose 1.
Boxplot Overlayed with Stripchart (Obj5)
 Features
– Same as
Boxplot
 Advantages
 Same as Boxplot
 Can See All of the
Data
 Disadvantage
 Many Programs
Cannot Create
 Dot Chart (Obj5)
 Features
 Nominal, Ordinal
Characteristics with a
Continuous Outcome
(Obj4)
– Can Compare Levels
and Groups
 Advantages
 Easily Interpreted
 Size of Data Irrelevant

 Disadvantage
 Not as Recognized as
Bar Graphs and Pie
Charts
 Kaplan Meier Curve (Obj5)

Demonstrates the
probability of
survival

The plot suggests
that males have a
more favorable
rate of survival
over the years.

Can be created in Number at Risk
most programs
Probably Even Less Familiar
Graphs
 Spaghetti Plot (Obj5)
●Alzheimer's
Disease
●Verbal IQ – Words

that could not be

sounded out (e.g.
Depot)
 Spaghetti Plot
 Features (Obj4) The overall trend suggest that
as age increases so do
– Continuous, earnings.
Longitudinal
– Two Characteristics
– Shows Trend
 Advantages
 Shows all of the Data
 Disadvantages
 Not Available in All
Packages
odf o ds ht ( s gni nr a E

 May be Difficult to
Interpret

Age(yrs)
 Dendogram: Cluster (Obj5)

Useful for
Determining
Clustering

May Help to
Remove
Variables (Data
Reduction)

PGY clustered
Clinical Year
Scatter Plot with Marginal
Histograms (Obj5)

Continuous

Virtually appealing

Shows trends,
associations, and
the distributions of
the data

Cannot be created
in many programs
Large Data Sets
 Sunflower Plot (Obj5)

Large data sets

The more ink used,
the more dense the
data

Ordinal

More fresh embryos
to the uterine were
transferred on day 3.
Heat Map (Obj5)
●
Encephalitis
●
Red
●
Proportion
of Presence
●
Green
●
Proportion of
Absence
●
White
●
Missing
●
Light/Dark
●
Intensity of
Presence of
Attribute
 Heat Map

Similar to the
Hexagon Plot

Lightness or
Darkness
Indicates Intensity

May not be
Created in Some
Programs
 Nomogram (Obj5)
 May Provide Risk,
Probability, etc.
 Useful in Providing Predictive
Scores
 Sum the “Points” for each
category, find the “Total
Points,” then look at the
corresponding “Risk of
Death.”
 40 yo, Male, 200 Cholesterol,
and 170 BP has
Approximately a 48% Risk of
Death
Multidimensional Plot (Obj5)
http://data.vanderbilt.edu/rapache/bbplot/
Multidimensional Plot (Obj5)
 Conclusion

Always try to think of the best way to display
your story (data).

Consider your target audience.

When publishing, color may cost.
 References
Hamid, et al. BMC Infectious Diseases 2010, 10:364.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/10/364
Grober, E, Hall, CB, Lipton, RB, Zonderman, AB, Resnick, SM, and Kawas, C
(2009). Memory impairment, executive dysfunction, and intellectual decline
in preclinical Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the International
Neuropsychological Society, 14(2), 266-278.
http://data.vanderbilt.edu/rapache/bbplot/