Teaching:TUW - UE InfoVis WS 2008/09 - Gruppe 02 - Aufgabe 1 - Scatterplot
A scatterplot (also called a scatter chart, scatter diagram or scatter graph [Wikipedia1, 2008]) is a diagram in which the values of two metric variables are applied to the horizontal and vertical axes of a cartesian coordinate system. The resulting point in the graph represents one record from a data set. The distribution pattern of points from multiple records reveals, among other qualities, the correlation between the selected variables in the data set. The scatterplot is not to be confused with the correlation plot [NIST, 2008] which treats already adopted correlation coefficients in different data groups, while the term correlation diagram does not seem to be bound.
Revealed Information
Perfect linear correlation results in all samples lying on the regression line with positive or negative incline dependent on the sign of the correlation coefficient [MSTE, 1997]. Note, that the nonzero incline of the line is insignificant in this kind of diagram [Wikipedia 3, 2008] since it is dependent on axis scales.
An example of perfect correlation can be seen in Figure1 together with other patterns: strong positive, weak negative and one example of variables without significant correlation.
Figure2 features a regression line to further increase expressiveness. The regression function is not necessarily chosen linear as in this example. Any kind of curve may fit a plot (quadratic, splines, ...). Generally, the curve with the smallest sum of squared distances to the points is sought after, [NetMBA, 2008]. For an introduction on linear regression, see [Wikipedia 4, 2008; Wikipedia 5, 2008].
Further properties of data sets that are easily discovered are the presence of clusters and outlyers(Figure3).
Scatterplots of Higher Dimensions
Scatterplots are not restricted to records with only two variables. Higher dimensional data can be displayed by adding the third axis to the plot or by assigning point properties (color, size, shape).
TODO: add figure with colored 3D plot,
For an example of a threedimensional scatterplot refer to [Wikipedia 1, 2008]. A way of plotting multidimensional data without the use of the third axis can be found in [Demsar, 2008].
Treating Discrete Data
For continuously distributed data, scatterplots do well in visualizing density. The problem with discrete data is the possibility of more than one record sharing one point in the diagram (overplotting). One solution is to alter the point representation according to density, as is achieved by sun flower plots in which each point symbol gains radial segments as a consequence, [Wikipedia 2, 2008]. Examples can be found here: [Friendly, 2006; addictedtor, 2005].
References
- [MSTE, 1997]: Anonymous Carolyn, Carolyn's Unit on Graphing. MSTE, University of Illinois. Retrieved at: November 2, 2008. http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/courses/ci330ms/youtsey/scatterinfo.html
- [NIST, 2008] Carroll Croarkin, Paul Tobias. NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods. Retrieved at November 2, 2008 http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/
- [NetMBA, 2008] Anonymous, Scatter Plot. NetMBA. Retrieved at: 2 November, 2008. http://www.netmba.com/statistics/plot/scatter/
- [addictedtor, 2005]: Anonymous. Sun Flower Plot. R Graph Gallery. Changed: October 6, 2005 Retrieved at: 2 November, 2008. http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques/graphcode.php?graph=59
- [Friendly, 2006] Michael Friendly, The sunplot macro. York University. Changed at: November 2, 2006. Retrieved at: November 2, 2008 http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/sasmac/sunplot.html
- [Demsar, 2008] Janez Demsar, Simple Visualization Examples. A.I. Lab Ljubljana. Retrieved at: November 2, 2008 http://www.ailab.si/janez/visualizations.html
- [Wikipedia 1, 2008] Scatterplot, Wikipedia. Retrieved at: November 2, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scatterplot
- [Wikipedia 2, 2008] Streudiagramm, Wikipedia. Retrieved at: November 2, 2008. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streudiagramm
- [Wikipedia 3, 2008] Correlation, Wikipedia. Retrieved at: November 2, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation
- [Wikipedia 4, 2008] Linear Regression, Wikipedia. Retrieved at 2 November, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_regression
- [Wikipedia 5, 2008] Regression Analysis, Wikipedia. Retrieved at 2 November, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_analysis