st: RE: AW: RE: AW: AW: Adding the mean to a boxplot

["Nick Cox" <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>]

Fair enough, but good luck doing this elegantly for half-a-dozen means, some of which are very close to each other. 

The key point is surely that most people who want this want point symbols (markers) and that can be done, as my earlier posting indicates. In this particular thread that is exactly what the original poster asked for. 

Nick 
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 

Martin Weiss

" Often it will even be ambiguous which mean goes with which group."

Let`s make it less ambiguous, then:


*************
sysuse bplong, clear
su bp if sex, mean
loc myfirstmean=r(mean)
loc myfirstname "female"
su bp if !sex, mean
graph box bp, over(sex) ///
yli(`r(mean)' `myfirstmean')  /// 
yla(`myfirstmean' "`myfirstname'"  /// 
 `r(mean)' "male", angle(zero))
*************

Nick Cox

In essence, this is a quick but dirty way to show means. You get one horizontal line for each group mean, which is usually less subtle graphically than people want. Often it will even be ambiguous which mean goes with which group. 

To do it better, you need very low-level programming or to use -graph twoway- to construct your box plot. Very full detail on the second way is given in 

SJ-9-3  gr0039  . . . . . . . . Speaking Stata: Creating and varying box plots
        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N.
J. Cox
        Q3/09   SJ 9(3):478--496                                 (no
commands)
        explains how to use egen to calculate the statistical
        ingredients needed for box plots and variations of box
        plots; shows the use of twoway to then create the plots

This post earlier today expands on some related issues: 

<http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/lwgate/STATALIST/archives/statalist.1005/date/article-332.html> 

Martin Weiss

Here is your code:

*************
sysuse bplong, clear
su bp if sex, mean
loc myfirstmean=r(mean)
su bp if !sex, mean
graph box bp, over(sex) ///
yli(`r(mean)' `myfirstmean') yla(`r(mean)' `myfirstmean')
*************

Martin Weiss

Something tells me this is my code, not Nick`s. He might have cited it in his http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2009-06/msg00495.html post?

Im Auftrag von drreg@earthlink.net

I've read:

st: RE: Re: Boxplot w/ 2nd y-axis and mean overlay
>>>From 	  "Nick Cox" <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>
To 	  <statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu>
Subject 	  st: RE: Re: Boxplot w/ 2nd y-axis and mean overlay
Date 	  Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:16:01 +0100

<snip> <snip>

"Additionally, I'd like to add the mean to the boxplot.  Is there a way
to do so?"

***
sysuse bplong, clear
su bp, mean
graph box bp, over(sex) ///
yli(`r(mean)') yla(`r(mean)')

Suppose, instead, I wanted to place a marker (x, for example) representing the mean for males, and a marker representing the mean for females on the boxplot. How could this be accomplished?

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