Printer Friendly
The Free Library
14,680,925 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

The Elements of Graphing Data.


As the title suggests, this books' focus is on methods and basic principles that help the researcher realize the potential of visualization. It is not a textbook. The book would, however, be an excellent reference for a physical therapist researcher who is studying and communicating data. The prerequisites for understanding this book are minimal, with a few topics requiring a knowledge of elementary concepts of statistics. The book adopts a data-based exposition in which a variety of interesting data sets are presented, such as O-ring data from the space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank.  Challenger and brain mass and body mass data from Carl Sagan's book The Dragons of Eden.

The author is a leading researcher in the visualization of statistical data. He clearly emphasizes the importance of using graphs to display data. Data display is critical to analyzing data, allowing the reader to explore data to see overall patterns and behavior. Using graphs is, by far, the best approach in revealing thoroughly the structure of data. Many new ideas "New Ideas" is the debut single by Scottish New Wave/Indie Rock act The Dykeenies. It was first released as a Double A-side with "Will It Happen Tonight?" on July 17, 2006. The band also recorded a video for the track.  and methods are presented. The author refers to pie charts A graphical representation of information in which each unit of data is represented as a pie-shaped piece of a circle. See business graphics.  and divided bar charts as "pop charts"; he emphasizes using a dot plot or a multiway dot plot and box plots, which typically provide more information. More advanced graphical techniques are also discussed, such as quantile quantile

division of a total into equal subgroups; includes terciles, quartiles, quintiles, deciles, percentiles.
 plots, brushing, and banking.

The first chapter demonstrates the power of visualization. Cleveland demonstrates how easy it is for the graphing of data to go wrong. The main three chapters of the book are on principles of graph construction, graphical methods This is a list of graphical methods with a mathematical basis. Included are diagram techniques, chart techniques, plot techniques, and other forms of visualization.

There is also a list of computer graphics and descriptive geometry topics.
, and graphical perception. The chapter on principles of graph construction focuses on the basic elements, such as scales, captions, plotting symbols, labels, and tick marks. Every graph and its accompanying caption summarizes the ideas, and the text has been written around the sequence of graphs. The graphical methods chapter addresses types of graphs and ways of encoding See encode.  information on graphs, covering topics from the use of logarithms to two-tiered error bars. The chapter on graphical perception discusses the visual decoding de·code  
tr.v. de·cod·ed, de·cod·ing, de·codes
1. To convert from code into plain text.

2. To convert from a scrambled electronic signal into an interpretable one.

3.
 of encoded information.

If researchers read and apply Cleveland's principles and methods, the number of bad graphs appearing in journals would be significantly reduced. A companion volume by Cleveland, Visualizing Data, (1993), focuses more on graphical methods and presents far more methods, albeit at an advanced level requiring a greater knowledge of statistics.

Dr Nick is an assistant professor and biostatistician for the School of Health Related Professions at the University of Mississippi Medical Center University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) is the health sciences campus of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Located in Jackson, Mississippi (USA), it houses the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Health Related Professions, and Graduate Studies in the Health .
COPYRIGHT 1996 American Physical Therapy Association, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1996, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Author:Nick, Todd G.
Publication:Physical Therapy
Article Type:Book Review
Date:Feb 1, 1996
Words:408
Previous Article:Lumbar spinal stenosis.
Next Article:Clinical Decision Making in Therapeutic Exercise.
Topics:



Related Articles
Auto-matic graphing. (line and bar graphs) (Special Issue: Doing Science) (Cover Story)
Say it with pictures. (displaying experimental data)
Improving the image of numbers. (financial reports)
Grand-slam data display: follow our game plan for making data tables, graphs, and charts. (organize your data; includes related articles on charts...
Chill out with graphs: serve your data in tables, graphs, and charts - with a cherry on top! (organizing and documenting science project results)
Eat and Report.(science)(Brief Article)
Tables, Charts, and Graphs.(science)(Brief Article)
ILOG Views 4.0 suite. (Management News and Products).(Product Announcement)
Got the picture? CPAs can use some simple principles to create effective charts and graphs for financial reports and presentations.
To make a line graph. (Tables, Charts, And Graphs).

Terms of use | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles