FA24 Psy 202 Sections 2 & 7 Conceptual Assignment 4

1. Explain the painter’s model of graphics.

Painter’s model of graphics is the way of thinking about and drawing graphs. Programming
languages have several di erent ways of handling graphics, and the Painter’s model is what R
uses. It is both a method and a metaphor; the idea is that each graph has di erent items that
you layer. You begin with a “blank canvas,” create layers one at a me, and if you want to remove
anything, you have to start over. It is easy to program, but not necessarily e cient.
What is the di erence between low-level graphics commands and high-level graphics
commands?
Low-level graphics are something similar to a “paint-by-numbers,” you don’t necessarily need to
know what you are drawing, you just need to know the parts. We use it when we have a graph
already and want to add something to it. There are 2 types: tradi onal and grid graphics. Grid is
a li le more complicated— it has several layers with lots of parts: theme, coordinates, sta s cs,
facets, geometries, aesthe cs, & data.
High-level graphics determine the style of the graph— the idea is that you can draw the same
thing in several di erent styles. High-level graphics commands create an en re graph at one me
and can put it in a style.
Low-level graphics deal with pu ng bits and pieces together of a graph. While high-level is when
you write one line of code and an en re graph is formed with customiza ons.

2. For which measurement scales would we use a histogram? 12 min

When you have a single quan ta ve variable, so one that is interval or ra o/ con nuous scores
— meaning an in nite number of possible values— you could use a histogram. Histograms are a
simple and useful way to visualize data.
What does the x-axis of a histogram show us?
We put down values of the quan ta ve variables from lowest to highest (le to right)
What does the y-axis of a histogram show us?
It shows the frequency of that value and how o en it shows up.

3. In a histogram, what are bins?

Bins are groups into which you divide the values
What are the minimum and maximum numbers of bins we would want to have?
10 to 20
What are the possible bin widths?
This refers to how many di erent values— possible widths are 2,3, 5, or some mul ple of 5.
In a histogram, what are breaks?
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 Breaks are how the bins are separated — it marks the beginning of one bin and the end of the
next.
As the number of breaks increases, what happens to the width of each bin?
The width of each bin becomes more narrow as the number of breaks increases.

4. In a stem-and-leaf plot, what do the stems represent?

Stems represent a larger grouping of numbers. It is organized from highest bin to lowest bin (or
vice versa) and they divide evenly into ten.
In a stem-and-leaf plot, what do the leaves represent?
Leaves represent the “ones” column and scores are in ascending order. Each leave shows each
score.
Compared to histograms, what are the bene ts of stem-and-leaf plots?
The bene t of a stem-and-leaf plot is that all individual scores are shown in the plot.
Compared to histograms, what are the disadvantages of stem-and-leaf plots?
If the dataset is large, it is not prac cal.

5. Which measure of central tendency does a boxplot show?

It shows the median as a line divides it into two parts.
How is that measure shown on the graph?
There is a line that divides the box in the middle of the graph that shows the median.
Which two measures of variability does a boxplot show?
It shows the IQR and an approxima on of the range.
How are those two measures shown on the graph?
On the graph, the box itself represents the IQR— meaning the middle 50% of the data or the 25
to 75th percen le. The range is shown through the line that follows through the whole graph
(either horizontally or ver cally). In quota ons, the graph says “minimum” and “maximum,”
showing the approxima on of the range. It is de ned as anything that is one-and-a-half-quar le
ranges above or below.

6. How do boxplots de ne outliers (rela ve to the interquar le range)?

They de ne outliers as any point that’s greater or less than one and a half interquar le ranges,
so below quar le one or above quar le 3.
How are outliers shown on the graph?
They are shown as dots outside of the line.

7. What do we usually use sca erplots to show?

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 We use sca erplots to show the correla on between variables. There are 2 variables.
In a sca erplot, what do a point’s coordinates tell us?
A point’s coordinates tell us where they intersect by the means of their score on variable x on
the x-axis and their score on variable y on the y-axis.
In some situa ons, it doesn’t ma er which variable goes on a sca erplot’s x-axis. Why?
In a lot of situa ons, we don’t know what the causal rela onship is, so it does not ma er what
goes on the X-axis and what goes on the Y-axis. This can be because of the direc onality problem
— you don’t know which of the variables is causing the change in the other one. This could also
be due to the third variable problem, meaning there is an addi onal variable that a ects the
change between the predictor and outcome variable.

8. What is a correla on matrix?

A correla on matrix is used when you have mul ple variables for each person or thing. It is a
table that shows rela onships between variables in a data set by displaying correla on
coe cients in each cell. The correla on matrix shows you all the possible correla ons between
all the possible pairs of variables in the data set.
How does a sca erplot matrix relate to a correla on matrix?
The sca erplot matrix shows correla on coe cients— it is the graphical version of a correla on
matrix.

9. For which measurement scale would we most o en use a bar graph?

You use a bar graph when working with a single categorical variable. Discrete scores (usually
nominal or ordinal) are shown.
What does the x-axis of a bar graph show us?
The x-axis shows us the category of what the graph pertains to. Since nominal data does not
have rank order, the order in which categories are placed on the x-axis is arbitrary.
What does the y-axis of a bar graph show us?
The y-axis o en represents the frequency or any sort of numerical sta s cs, such as the mean.
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