RE: st: horizontal box plots and log scale

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

Thanks Nick for your patience and assistance.

I appreciate your advice.

My main problem is simply that I cannot generate a horizontal box plot using the option ysc(log), and have not been able to since upgrading to Stata v11 (for Windows) onwards. If I include the option under -graph box- it works fine, but for -graph hbox- it gives a mess. Sadly, -stripplot- seemed to have a similar problem when I requested the log option.

So I included code completely unrelated to my data so others could see if they had the same problem, or if this was something peculiar to my computer/s...  

Thanks again,
Susanna

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Cox
Sent: Thursday, 13 September 2012 4:02 PM
To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
Subject: Re: st: horizontal box plots and log scale

I am no longer very clear on your real problem or how it led to your first post.

But if the values given are like your data, which are relative risks for various situations or studies, then I would not reach for a box plot at all. I would want to see all the values and so would use - graph dot- or -stripplot- (SSC) with an -over()- option. Such commands allow text labels for each value.

When some values are very close together -devnplot- (SSC) can work better than -stripplot-. There is an example in my San Diego presentation, downloadable from the Stata website.

Nick

On 12 Sep 2012, at 22:58, Susanna Cramb <SusannaCramb@cancerqld.org.au> wrote:

> 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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