• Comment: This draft needs sources that describe this diagram method in detail. Currently many of the facts are not supported by the cited sources. In fact, I don't see any discussion of Sparge plots on the American Journal of Biological Anthropology article? Ca talk to me! 12:50, 4 September 2024 (UTC)

A sparge plot is a diagram depicting the unfettered positions of raw numerical data for several comparable univariate distributions in the context of non-parametric summary statistic scaffolding (e.g. quartiles) that indicate the quantitative dispersion and skew of the underlying points. This is technically accomplished using a combination of a) vertical stacking of the distributions of b) orthogonally jittered and c) translucent [overlapping] points while also d) subtly superimposing boxplots around the central assemblage of these points.[1][2]

[HELP! I AM UNABLE TO UPLOAD AN IMAGE FOR THIS PLOT EXAMPLE] a colorful sparge plot with 10 variables as rows of 4 overlapping distributions smeared across the plot as horizontal streaks. Each color corresponds to a different outcome variable.
A four-fold sparge Plot of ten covariates and their distributions (here compared as t-values)

Sparge plots are similar to sina plots or raincloud plots in that they are largely empowered by the datapoints themselves. However, in contrast to sina and raincloud plots, which typically emphasize a simplification of data distribution using kernel density, sparge plots merely overlay a more subtle boxplot to quantitatively demarcate such dispersion.

An easy way to create a sparge plot is by using the 'plot.sparge' function in the 'caroline' R-package:

  • The caroline library of the R programming language.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Schruth, David; et al. (2024-01-05). "The origins of musicicality in the motion of primates". American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 184 (1): e24891. doi:10.1002/ajpa.24891. PMID 38180286.
  2. ^ Schruth, David (2023-11-09). "Plot Sparge: Visually compare all points from different univariate distributions". Comprehensive R Archive Network.
  3. ^ "Caroline: A Collection of Database, Data Structure, Visualization, and Utility Functions for R". 9 November 2023.