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Re: Visualising data by cleveland

To: "Thompson, David (MNR)" <david.thompson@mnr.gov.on.ca>
Subject: Re: Visualising data by cleveland
From: Spencer Graves <spencer.graves@pdf.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 20:57:10 -0700
Cc: Jonathan Dakin <jdakin@overwey.demon.co.uk>, Splus Mailing List <s-news@lists.biostat.wustl.edu>
In-reply-to: <327C2434A3DA2D4CB61554D644BAE48B05C476A8@LRCPSSMBMXMB001.lrc.ad.gov.on.ca>
References: <327C2434A3DA2D4CB61554D644BAE48B05C476A8@LRCPSSMBMXMB001.lrc.ad.gov.on.ca>
User-agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.4 (Windows/20060516)
Are there script files for "The Elements of Graphing Data"? Before I read David Thompson's email, I didn't know that scripts and data for "Visualizing Data" were available.

I agree with Frank that these are "awesome books", and I'd like to explain briefly why I think so.

For me, the the seminal contribution of "The Elements of Graphing Data" is its chapter summarizing research in visual perception: What can you do in designing graphics so people get more information in less time? The contents of this chapter have helped me, I believe, develop more effective graphics.

The graphics in the two books seem to be the foundations of Trellis / Lattice graphics. They do not discuss how to create the graphics using S-Plus or R, only why those kinds of graphics are useful. The data and script files increase substantially the value of the book(s). When I read the books, I remember being frustrated by not knowing how to create the graphics. Thanks to David Thompson's email, I can now revisit "Visualizing Data".

          Spencer Graves        

Thompson, David (MNR) wrote:
Frank E Harrell Jr wrote:

Jonathan Dakin wrote:
Could anyone comment on the relative merits of two of Cleveland's
books:
"Elements of Graphing Data" (94), and "Visualising Data"  (93) ?

I'm looking for fairly basic account of the principles of graphical exploration, with particular reference to Splus, which is not too
heavy
on statistical theory.  My interest is medical data.  If the scripts
and
datasets used in either are publicly available that would be a big
plus.
Many thanks
Jonathan Dakin
These are awesome books and everyone who looks at data should own them.

The Elements of Graphing Data book is the best how-to for scientific graphics. There is a web site with scripts from the books although Cleveland used a few customizations.

--
Frank E Harrell Jr   Professor and Chair           School of Medicine
Department of Biostatistics Vanderbilt University

That scripts link (at least for Visualizing Data) is:
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/departments/sia/wsc/visualizing.datafig.ht
ml

DaveT.
**********************************************************
Silviculture Data Analyst
Ontario Forest Research Institute
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
david.thompson@mnr.gov.on.ca
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