RE: st: Stata 12: wish list

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

Hmmm... "terrible" is a pretty strong word. It's a word I use if I hear that a friend has lost a parent, or been dumped by a partner, or whatever. Frustrating, disappointing, ...: that I can believe.  

It's difficult to address specific details here, because there aren't any, but nevertheless various comments are possible. 

0. Means on box plots are a graphical mixed metaphor, and arguably an admission that the box plot is not informative enough, but let that be. 

1. I am not sure that there is any up-to-date user-written program specifically designed to draw box plots. -hbox- from SSC meets the second part of the prescription, but it's way out-of-date and of no interest unless you are on Stata <8. -stripplot- from SSC has an option of adding a box, but it's not designed to do what is being described here. You could get close through its -addplot()- option, but that's a longer story. 

2. Some other programs [Sridhar did use a plural] may be in mind here, but I can't comment. 

3. User-programmers tend to write programs for themselves, with no guarantee of meeting anyone else's needs, so I guess that might seem perverse of them. 

4. But this is all immaterial. You don't need any user-written programs to add means to box plots. You can do it yourself with a few lines of Stata, as was explained 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

That doesn't stop StataCorp being persuaded into adding this as an extra option. 

As for median and mode: I see no need to add medians to box plots, as they are part of the design. Modes can easily be added using the principles above provided you can come up with a recipe to calculate them. (-hsmode- from SSC is one such.) 

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

Sridhar Telidevara

I would like to point out one more dimension where some improvements
can be done. Superimposing mean/median/mode values in a box plot is
something what I feel STATA should implement. I had terrible
experience with use written programs.


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