Graphical Exploration: A Comparison of Statistical Software Packages (303082)

Keywords: graphics, software, best practices

When deciding how to best display data for comparison or exploratory purposes, a statistician is faced with two major questions; what graphical technique best conveys the message and which software package will provide the most appropriate display. Previous literature has often focused on guidelines for good statistical graphics or comparing software for all statistical purposes with little mention of graphics. This talk will focus on using a foundation of guidelines to evaluate five statistical software packages on their graphical capabilities through a series of case studies, using data from both the public and private sector, with specific goals in mind. By focusing on guidelines to statistical graphics, we can greater enhance not only how our data is understood and received but we can also begin to think about what are best practices for displaying data based on experimentation.