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rgraphplotlabelstripchart

Can data points be labeled in stripcharts?

I can't find a way to label datapoints in stripchart. Using the text function, as suggested in this question, breaks down when points are stacked or jittered.

I have numerical data in 4 categories (columns 2-5) and would like to label each datapoint with the initials (column 1).

This is my data and the code I have tried:

initials,total,interest,slides,presentation
CU,1.6,1.7,1.5,1.6
DS,1.6,1.7,1.5,1.7
VA,1.7,1.5,1.5,2.1
MB,2.3,2.0,2.1,2.9
HS,1.2,1.3,1.4,1.0
LS,1.8,1.8,1.5,2.0

stripchart(CTscores[-1], method = "stack", las = 1)
text(CTscores$total + 0.05, 1, labels = CTscores$name, cex = 0.5)

The plot below is the best I managed so far. As you see, the data point labels overlap. In addition, the longest y label is cut off.

enter image description here

Can points be labelled in a strip chart? Or do I have to display this with another command to allow for labeling?

Solution

  • Here's an alternative that allows you to add color to a strip chart in order to identify the initials:

    library(ggplot2)
library(reshape2)
library(gtable)
library(gridExtra)

# Gets default ggplot colors
gg_color_hue <- function(n) {
  hues = seq(15, 375, length=n+1)
  hcl(h=hues, l=65, c=100)[1:n]}

# Transform to long format
CTscores.m = melt(CTscores, id.var="initials")

# Create a vector of colors with keys for the initials
colvals <- gg_color_hue(nrow(CTscores))
names(colvals) <- sort(CTscores$initials)

# This color vector needs to be the same length as the melted dataset
cols <- rep(colvals,ncol(CTscores)-1)

# Create a basic plot that will have a legend with the desired attributes
g1 <- ggplot(CTscores.m, aes(x=variable, y=value, fill=initials)) +
  geom_dotplot(color=NA)+theme_bw()+coord_flip()+scale_fill_manual(values=colvals)

# Extract the legend
fill.legend <- gtable_filter(ggplot_gtable(ggplot_build(g1)), "guide-box") 
legGrob <- grobTree(fill.legend)

# Create the plot we want without the legend
g2 <- ggplot(CTscores.m, aes(x=variable, y=value)) +
  geom_dotplot(binaxis="y", stackdir="up",binwidth=0.03,fill=cols,color=NA) +
  theme_bw()+coord_flip()

# Create the plot with the legend
grid.arrange(g2, legGrob, ncol=2, widths=c(10, 1))

    enter image description here