Data Stories

An occasional blog about visual rhetoric and chart design in R.

A subtle flaw in pull()

R
dplyr
SE/NSE
Demonstrating a subtle scoping flaw in dplyr::pull() and providing a menu of reliable workarounds.
2024-08-01
Richard Layton

formatdown v0.1.4

R
engineering notation
scientific notation
units
rmarkdown
quarto
New functionality for formatting power-of-ten notation in R markdown or Quarto markdown documents.
2024-05-20
Richard Layton

midfieldr v1.0.1

R
engineering education
midfieldr
Provides tools and methods for studying undergraduate student-level records from the MIDFIELD database.
2023-07-09
Richard Layton

Introducing formatdown

R
engineering notation
scientific notation
units
rmarkdown
quarto
Provides powers-of-ten formatting for a numerical vector or data frame column when creating documents in rmarkdown or quarto markdown.
2022-11-21
Richard Layton

Multiple studies, one chart

R
data storytelling
ggplot2
chart design
Combining the results of studies with different time spans in a single chart when changes over time are the story.
2022-09-05
Richard Layton

Spiders, facets, and dots, oh my!

R
ggplot2
data storytelling
magick
chart design
A case study comparing the effectiveness of a radar chart to a faceted dot chart.
2022-08-21
Richard Layton

Another case for redesigning dual axis charts

R
data storytelling
chart design
An example of replacing a dual axis chart with alternatives better suited to drawing inferences about the data.
2022-06-06
Richard Layton

Revisiting a lying chart

R
data storytelling
visual lies
chart design
Revisiting the rhetoric of a deliberate visual lie, updating the data set, and providing data and code for reproducibility.
2022-05-27
Richard Layton

Facets that are not small multiples

R
ggplot2
chart design
Using the scales and space arguments of facet_grid() to manage panel heights of faceted charts when categories are not independent.
2022-03-09
Richard Layton

Survey data I/O with likert

R
chart design
How to prepare different forms of Likert-style survey data for the R likert package and edit the results to create 100% stacked-bar charts.
2022-02-13
Richard Layton

Survey data chart designs

R
data storytelling
engineering education
chart design
Comparing chart designs for displaying Likert-style survey results and concluding that the 100% stacked-bar chart is the most effective.
2022-02-12
Richard Layton

Plot the variable of interest

R
data storytelling
engineering education
chart design
A chart best serves its rhetorical purpose by directly illustrating the variables of interest discussed in the text.
2022-02-03
Richard Layton

Stacked-bar alternatives

R
data storytelling
engineering education
chart design
Redesigning two stacked bar charts to better convey the stories in their data.
2022-01-14
Richard Layton

The missing relation

R
data storytelling
engineering education
chart design
Redesigning a grouped-bar chart and including missing data to reveal an important change to the story in the data.
2015-07-20
Richard Layton
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