Statistica Graphs

[Eberardo Topher]

Themost common application of graphs is to efficiently present and communicate information (typically, numerical data). However, graphical techniques also provide powerful analytical tools for the exploration of data and verification of hypotheses.

Once a graph is created, you can link the graph to different variables in the spreadsheet, or to a completely different spreadsheet. After the link update, the graph will retain its original customizations while linking to the new data.

The update can go the other way as well. When you change the case states of the data points of an existing graph (using the brushing tool), such as the label or color of the marker, or exclude or hide points from the graph, these changes can be updated to the spreadsheet. Since several graphs can be linked from the same spreadsheet, this makes an efficient tool for exploratory data analysis: as changes are made in one graph to brush and exclude and/or label data points, changes are instantly made in all the graphs based on that spreadsheet.

Cancer has a major impact on society in the United States and across the world. Cancer statistics describe what happens in large groups of people and provide a picture in time of the burden of cancer on society.

Statistics tell us things such as how many people are diagnosed with and die from cancer each year, the number of people who are currently living after a cancer diagnosis, the average age at diagnosis, and the numbers of people who are still alive at a given time after diagnosis. They also tell us about differences among groups defined by age, sex, racial/ethnic group, geographic location, and other categories.

Although statistical trends are usually not directly applicable to individual patients, they are essential for governments, policy makers, health professionals, and researchers to understand the impact of cancer on the population and to develop strategies to address the challenges that cancer poses to the society at large. Statistical trends are also important for measuring the success of efforts to control and manage cancer.

Mortality trends, when compared with incidence trends, can also provide evidence of improved treatments. If death rates drop faster than incidence (or if death rates drop while incidence is rising), this may reflect the availability of better treatments. For example, statistical evidence suggests that improved treatments have likely made a substantial contribution to recent sharp declines in the lung cancer mortality rate.

In the United States, the overall cancer death rate has declined since the early 1990s. Part 1 of the most recent Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, released in October 2022, shows that overall cancer death rates decreased by:

As the overall cancer death rate has declined, the number of cancer survivors has increased. These trends show that progress is being made against the disease, but much work remains. Although rates of smoking, a major cause of cancer, have declined, the rates of other risk factors, such as obesity, have increased in the United States. Also, the U.S. population is aging, and cancer rates increase with age.

The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer provides an annual update of cancer incidence, mortality, and trends in the United States. This report is jointly authored by experts from NCI, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Cancer Society, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

Part 1 of the most recent report included a special section about trends in pancreatic cancer. Part 2, released in September 2023, focused on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on new cases and deaths from certain cancers. For example, new diagnoses of six major cancer types fell sharply from March to May of 2020, at the start of the pandemic. By July 2020, diagnoses of all of these cancer types except one (prostate cancer) had returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Graphs from the Graphs menu contain the most flexible graphing capabilities available in STATISTICA, offering literally thousands of different combinations of options to create the precise graphics that lead to accurate interpretation of data. These commands are also available from the STATISTICA Start button menu (the button in the lower-left corner of the STATISTICA window).

Other specialized graphs related to specific analyses (e.g., ANOVA plots of means, Nonlinear Estimation plots of fitted functions, Cluster Analysis tree diagrams) are accessible directly from analysis results dialogs.

No. Once a graph is displayed on the screen, regardless of how it was requested or defined, all graph customization options available in STATISTICA can be used to customize it. The customization options available for all graphs include appending new plots to existing graphs and linking and embedding graphs, as well as drawing, fitting, and graph restructuring options. Also, all these options can be used to customize graphs that were saved and later opened for additional editing.

All Graphs menu graphs can maintain automatic links to the data from which they were created as long as the graph specification dialog is active. Options for auto-updating graphs are available on the Options 1 tab of all graph specification dialogs. Note that if you want a graph to be dynamically updated when the data file changes, it must be placed in a stand-alone window (instead of in a workbook or report).

Export via Copy and Paste operations (e.g., the Clipboard). The quickest way to export a graph is to copy it to the Clipboard and then paste it into another application. STATISTICA native, Windows metafile, and bitmap formats are created in the Clipboard and can be used in other applications.

STATISTICA Graphs can be pasted into other application documents (e.g., word processor documents or spreadsheets) as embedded objects or objects linked to graph files. If STATISTICA Graphs are pasted to other applications via Windows OLE, the graphs are tied to STATISTICA and can be interactively edited from within the other application.

In addition to the standard Windows mouse conventions for selecting objects, the mouse can be used in many other specialized applications in the graphics window in STATISTICA. The following is a list of representative examples:

STATISTICA Graphs can be pasted and linked or embedded in other application documents (e.g., word processor documents or spreadsheets) following standard OLE conventions. If STATISTICA Graphs are pasted to OLE-compatible applications, the graphs maintain their relation to STATISTICA and thus can be interactively edited from within the other application or updated when the STATISTICA Graphs change.

Even large portions of text (e.g., a report several pages long) can be pasted into STATISTICA Graphs using the Clipboard operations mentioned in the previous two topics. Additionally, you can paste a portion of a document into the graph window using the Paste Special command. To edit and customize the text within STATISTICA Graphs, double-click the text to display the Titles/Text dialog (for custom text) or the respective OLE server application (for pasting in text via the Paste Special command).

Both the Clipboard-based as well as inserting operations listed in the previous topic apply to all Windows compatible graphs and artwork (linking and embedding operations support any OLE-compliant objects).

The Clipboard-based operations (cut, copy, paste, link, embed) apply to all Windows-compatible artwork and graphs. Linking and embedding operations save graphs and artwork into bitmaps, Windows graphics metafiles, STATISTICA format graph files, and any OLE-compatible objects.

The easiest way to place one graph into another is to copy a graph displayed in one window (press CTRL+C or click the Copy toolbar button), and then move to the target graph window and paste it there (press CTRL+V or click the Paste toolbar button). The pasted graph will be displayed on the target graph. Now you can move or resize it like any other custom graphic object.

You can also change the properties of the pasted object by selecting Object Properties from its respective shortcut menu (right-click on an object). You can also edit the embedded object by double-clicking on it (following the standard OLE conventions).

Graphs and artwork saved as files can also be dynamically linked or statically embedded in the current graph by using the standard OLE facility, accessible by clicking the Graph Tools toolbar Insert Object button or selecting OLE Object from the Insert menu.

Compound graphs are those that contain other graphs. STATISTICA can automatically create compound graphs (e.g., in the Quality Control module where one display contains four different types of graphs, or when you use the Multiple Graph AutoLayout Wizard.

Icons representing documents in Windows Explorer can be dragged across applications and dropped into STATISTICA Graphs. If the source application is OLE-compliant, the document will be displayed in the STATISTICA Graph.

Graphs can be selected from all currently open STATISTICA Graph windows (in all currently open STATISTICA modules) or from graph files previously saved to disk; blank graphs (to be filled or replaced later) can also be used.

Categorized graphs are created by categorizing data into subsets and then displaying each of these subsets in a separate small component graph arranged in one display. For example, one graph can represent male subjects and another one female subjects, or high blood pressure females, low blood pressure females, high blood pressure males, etc.

When categorized graphs are requested from output dialogs of specific analytic procedures that involving subsets of data, the graphs will automatically display the subsets that are already defined as part of the current analysis).

The following graph is a relatively complex example of a two-way categorized graph based on a mixed method of defining the subset graphs. The two-way categorization arranges small graphs like a two-way table (crosstabulation) based on two different criteria of categorization.

3a8082e126