4 ms·

Assuming that you're comfortable with 2d histograms (hexagonal binning is the standard) I completely agree. Otherwise scatterplots are pretty crucial.

by mshron 14y ago

yummyfajitas 14y ago
Unless you are comfortable with tweaking opacity, jitter and point size until you get a graph that is representative, don't use scatterplots. A 2d histogram with a decent color scheme is far more reliable and easy. For dense data, scatterplots can obscure more than they show: http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2012/dont_use_scatterplots.html http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2012/dont_use_scatterplots... Even an author who was well aware of the problem made the same mistake: http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2013/01/09/the-50-million-dollar-lie/ http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2013/01/09/the-50-milli...
- tmoertel 14y ago
  Using a 2D histogram when there isn't overplotting is just throwing away good data. Why do it unless you need to?
  - yummyfajitas 14y ago
    Overplotting is common, and "you" (generic internet guy who posted a graph on his blog, not you personally) probably don't even know how to spot it. Secondly, the data you throw away is usually just sampling noise. Most of the time the interesting object is the underlying probability distribution - individual points are only useful to infer that. In the cases where individual data points are actually of interest (e.g. http://cl.ly/GvnM http://cl.ly/GvnM ), go ahead and use them. But they are terrible default choice.
    - tmoertel 14y ago
      Scatterplots are only a "terrible" choice when the underlying data set is concentrated; in all other cases they are superior. Do you not realize that using a 2D histogram on a sparse data set is every bit as foolish as using a scatterplot on a concentrated one? Whether scatterplots make a "terrible default choice," then, depends on what you believe about the distribution of data sets out there. Based on your advice, you must believe that most people have data sets that are dense. For a lot of people, however, that's not true. For them, "plot density, not points" is the terrible default choice. But you're telling them to make it their default anyway.

Assuming that you're comfortable with 2d histograms (hexagonal binning is the standard) I completely agree. Otherwise scatterplots are pretty crucial.

by mshron 14y ago

Assuming that you're comfortable with 2d histograms (hexagonal binning is the standard) I completely agree. Otherwise scatterplots are pretty crucial.

yummyfajitas 14y ago

Unless you are comfortable with tweaking opacity, jitter and point size until you get a graph that is representative, don't use scatterplots. A 2d histogram with a decent color scheme is far more reliable and easy. For dense data, scatterplots can obscure more than they show: http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2012/dont_use_scatterplots.html http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2012/dont_use_scatterplots... Even an author who was well aware of the problem made the same mistake: http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2013/01/09/the-50-million-dollar-lie/ http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2013/01/09/the-50-milli...

tmoertel 14y ago
Using a 2D histogram when there isn't overplotting is just throwing away good data. Why do it unless you need to?
- yummyfajitas 14y ago
  Overplotting is common, and "you" (generic internet guy who posted a graph on his blog, not you personally) probably don't even know how to spot it. Secondly, the data you throw away is usually just sampling noise. Most of the time the interesting object is the underlying probability distribution - individual points are only useful to infer that. In the cases where individual data points are actually of interest (e.g. http://cl.ly/GvnM http://cl.ly/GvnM ), go ahead and use them. But they are terrible default choice.
  - tmoertel 14y ago
    Scatterplots are only a "terrible" choice when the underlying data set is concentrated; in all other cases they are superior. Do you not realize that using a 2D histogram on a sparse data set is every bit as foolish as using a scatterplot on a concentrated one? Whether scatterplots make a "terrible default choice," then, depends on what you believe about the distribution of data sets out there. Based on your advice, you must believe that most people have data sets that are dense. For a lot of people, however, that's not true. For them, "plot density, not points" is the terrible default choice. But you're telling them to make it their default anyway.