Pairs plots (section 5.1.17) are a useful way of displaying the pairwise relations between variables in a dataset. But the default display is unsatisfactory when the variables aren't all continuous. In this entry, we discuss ways to improve these dis...

In a previous entry, as well as section 2.4.3 of the book, we describe how to carry out a 2 group permutation test in SAS as well as with the coin package in R. We demonstrate with comparing the ages of the female and male subjects in the HELP study.I...

We discuss recursive partitioning, a technique for classification and regression using a decision tree in section 6.7.3 of the book. Support for these methods is available within the rpart package. Torsten Hothorn and Achim Zeileis have extended the ...

In recent entries (here, here, and here), we've been fitting a series of latent class models using SAS and R. One of the most commonly used and powerful software package for latent class model estimation is Mplus. This commercial software includes su...

In Example 8.21 we described how to fit a latent class model to data from the HELP dataset using SAS and R (using poLCA(), and then followed up in example 8.22 using randomLCA(). In both entries, we classified subjects based on their observed (manifes...

In Example 8.21 we described how to fit a latent class model to data from the HELP dataset using SAS and R. Subjects were classified based on their observed (manifest) status on the following variables (on street or in shelter in past 180 days [homele...

Latent class analysis is a technique used to classify observations based on patterns of categorical responses. Collins and Lanza's book,"Latent Class and Latent Transition Analysis," provides a readable introduction, while the UCLA ATS center has an o...

We've continued to get useful feedback and ideas from our posts on the combination dotplot/boxplot and other ways to craft similar displays. Another notion is the violin plot, which combines a boxplot and a (doubled) kernel density plot. While the ba...

Pyramid plots are a common way to display the distribution of age groups in a human population. The percentages of people within a given age category are arranged in a barplot, often back to back. Such displays can be used distinguish males vs. femal...

A bubble plot is a means of displaying 3 variables in a scatterplot. The z dimension is presented in the size of the plot symbol, typically a circle. The area or radius of the circle plotted is proportional to the value of the third variable. This c...