RE: st: horizontal box plots and log scale

[Susanna Cramb <SusannaCramb@cancerqld.org.au>]

Thanks so much Nick for your very prompt reply.

I had seen the FAQ... My sole reason for the transformation is to obtain equally spaced ticks for the values 0.4, 0.5, 0.66, 0.8, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 (as it's using relative risk) so I didn't think it was necessary/desirable to transform the data. (Incidentally, I also tried -stripplot-, but had the same problem).

However, if that is the only option, then obviously that will have to do.

Thanks again,
Susanna

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Cox
Sent: Wednesday, 12 September 2012 7:04 PM
To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
Subject: Re: st: horizontal box plots and log scale

This is a FAQ. See

FAQ     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Box plots and logarithmic scales
        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        9/05    How can I best get box plots on logarithmic scales?
                http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/graphics/boxandlog.html

The essence of the problem is that -xsc(log)- just takes the graph you would have otherwise and transforms it logarithmically. You must transform the data first, draw the box plot, and then fix the axis labels.

-mylabels- (SSC) may help with the last.

I think you are wrong about Stata version here: this is in principle a problem with any version of Stata and a wired in boxplot command.

Nick

On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 9:53 AM, Susanna Cramb <SusannaCramb@cancerqld.org.au> wrote:

> I am having difficulties in generating horizontal box plots on the log scale.
>
> I am using Stata/SE 12.1 for Windows (32-bit), although I also have the problem with the same version under (64-bit) and also Stata/SE 11.2 for Windows (32-bit). I did not have this problem when using earlier versions of Stata.
>
> If I run the following example from the graph box help file, Stata generates the graph as expected:
>
> sysuse nlsw88, clear
> graph hbox wage, over(ind, sort(1)) nooutside ytitle("") title("Hourly 
> wage, 1988, woman aged 34-46", span) subtitle(" ") note( "Source:  
> 1988 data from NLS, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics" , 
> span)
>
> However, if I request it on the log scale, as in the following code, I obtain a horizontal box plot where all the categories are squished on top of each other at the very top of the graph, while the horizontal axis remains unchanged.
>
> sysuse nlsw88, clear
> graph hbox wage, over(ind, sort(1)) nooutside ytitle("") title("Hourly 
> wage, 1988, woman aged 34-46", span) subtitle(" ") note( "Source:  
> 1988 data from NLS, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics" , 
> span) yscale(log)
>
> Has anyone else had this problem, and is there any solution?
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