12 Data Visualization in R

12.1 Introduction to Data Visualization

In the field of mass communications research, where the analysis often spans complex datasets ranging from audience demographics to social media engagement metrics, data visualization plays a crucial role. It transforms raw data into understandable and insightful visual formats, enabling researchers to uncover patterns, trends, and anomalies that might not be apparent from numbers alone. This section highlights the importance of data visualization in mass communications research and provides an overview of the extensive data visualization capabilities available in R, making it an indispensable tool for researchers aiming to convey their findings effectively.

12.1.1 The Importance of Data Visualization in Mass Communications Research

• Enhancing Understanding: Data visualization helps in simplifying complex datasets, making the information more accessible and understandable to a broad audience, including those without a statistical background.

• Facilitating Insight: Visual representations of data can highlight underlying patterns and trends, reveal relationships between variables, and pinpoint outliers, offering valuable insights that can guide further research and decision-making.

• Improving Communication: In mass communications, where findings often inform policy, strategy, and content creation, effectively communicated visualizations can influence and engage stakeholders, from policymakers to the general public.

• Supporting Analysis: Beyond its role in communication, visualization is a critical part of the exploratory data analysis process, helping researchers to identify potential areas of interest, formulate hypotheses, and select appropriate statistical tests.

12.1.2 Overview of Data Visualization Capabilities in R

• Versatile Plotting Functions: R provides a wide array of plotting functions for creating diverse types of visualizations, from basic histograms and scatter plots to complex multi-layered graphics. The base R graphics, while powerful, are further enhanced by packages like ggplot2, which offers a high-level interface for creating aesthetically pleasing and complex visualizations.

• Customization and Flexibility: One of R’s strengths lies in its high degree of customization, allowing researchers to tailor their visualizations to meet specific needs. From adjusting colors and fonts to fine-tuning scales and themes, R enables the creation of publication-quality figures.

• Interactive Visualizations: For more dynamic and engaging presentations, R supports interactive visualization through packages like plotly and shiny. These tools allow users to interact with the data, exploring different facets and drilling down into specifics, which can be particularly useful for online dissemination.

• Integration with R Markdown: R’s integration with R Markdown facilitates the seamless inclusion of visualizations in reproducible reports and presentations. Researchers can combine code, output, and narrative text in a single document, ensuring that the visualizations are directly linked to the underlying analysis.

• Extensive Community Resources: The vibrant R community continuously contributes to the development of new visualization packages and tools, expanding the possibilities for creative and informative data presentation. Resources such as tutorials, webinars, and forums provide ongoing support for researchers looking to enhance their visualization skills.

Data visualization in R offers mass communications researchers the tools to not only analyze and understand their data but also to communicate their findings compellingly. By leveraging R’s extensive visualization capabilities, researchers can illuminate the stories hidden within their data, making a significant impact on both academic and public discourse.

12.2 Getting Started with ggplot2

In the realm of data visualization within R, ggplot2 stands out as a premier package, offering a powerful and flexible system for creating graphics. Developed by Hadley Wickham, ggplot2 is based on the Grammar of Graphics—a set of principles for creating consistent and comprehensible visualizations. This section introduces ggplot2, delves into the basic concepts of the Grammar of Graphics, and guides you through setting up RStudio and installing ggplot2, paving the way for producing sophisticated and insightful visualizations in your mass communications research.

12.2.1 Introduction to ggplot2

ggplot2 is a comprehensive visualization package that transforms the way researchers create graphics in R. Its popularity stems not only from the aesthetic appeal and versatility of the visualizations it can produce but also from its underlying philosophy—the Grammar of Graphics—which emphasizes clarity, consistency, and coherence in data representation.

12.2.2 Basic Concepts of the Grammar of Graphics

The Grammar of Graphics, as implemented by ggplot2, is a systematic approach to visualization that allows users to construct graphics layer by layer by specifying the fundamental components of a graphic:

• Data: The dataset being visualized, specified using the data argument.
• Aesthetics (aes): Aesthetic mappings describe how variables in the data are mapped to visual properties (aesthetics) of the graphic, such as position, color, and size.
• Geometries (geom): Geometric objects (geoms) represent what you actually see on the plot: points, lines, bars, etc. Different geom functions are used to create different types of visualizations.
• Scales: Scales control how data values are translated into visual properties. ggplot2 automatically chooses suitable scales, but you can customize them to change the appearance of the plot.
• Facets: Faceting allows for the creation of subplots that split the data into subsets based on the values of one or more variables.
• Themes: Themes control the non-data parts of the plot, such as the background, gridlines, and text elements, allowing for extensive customization of the plot’s appearance.

12.2.3 Setting Up RStudio and Installing ggplot2

To begin creating visualizations with ggplot2, you’ll first need to set up your RStudio environment and install the package:

1. Installing ggplot2: ggplot2 can be installed from CRAN (the Comprehensive R Archive Network). Open RStudio and use the following command in the console:

install.packages("ggplot2")

2. Loading ggplot2: Before using ggplot2, you must load it into your R session. This is done with the library() function:

library(ggplot2)

With RStudio set up and ggplot2 installed, you’re now ready to dive into creating compelling and informative visualizations. ggplot2’s adherence to the Grammar of Graphics not only makes your plots more effective in conveying your research findings but also ensures that the process of creating them is logical and systematic. Whether you’re visualizing survey results, audience metrics, or trends in media consumption, ggplot2 provides the tools you need to bring your data to life.

12.3 Plots

Prepare Workspace

Load Libraries

Tidyverse

We load the tidyverse package, which is a collection of R packages designed for data science.

library(tidyverse)

Data.Table

Next, we load the data.table package. It provides an enhanced version of data frames for more efficient data manipulation.

library(data.table)

Read in All of Your Data

We use the fread function from the data.table package to read in various datasets from URLs.

Anime Dataset

This dataset presumably contains information related to anime.

anime <- fread("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2019/2019-04-23/tidy_anime.csv")

Horror Movies Dataset

This dataset likely contains data related to horror movies.

horror_movies <- fread('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2022/2022-11-01/horror_movies.csv')

Richmond Way Dataset

This dataset could contain information related to Richmond Way, though the exact details would be available in the dataset’s documentation.

richmondway <- fread('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2023/2023-09-26/richmondway.csv')

Television Ratings Dataset

This dataset likely contains television ratings data.

television <- fread("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2019/2019-01-08/IMDb_Economist_tv_ratings.csv")

12.3.0.0.1 Video Games Dataset

This dataset presumably contains information about video games.

video_games <- fread("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2019/2019-07-30/video_games.csv")

Explain the data

Anime

Source: https://github.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/blob/master/data/2019/2019-04-23/readme.md

variable	class	description
animeID	double	Anime ID (as in https://myanimelist.net/anime/animeID)
name	character	anime title - extracted from the site.
title_english	character	title in English (sometimes is different, sometimes is missing)
title_japanese	character	title in Japanese (if Anime is Chinese or Korean, the title, if available, in the respective language)
title_synonyms	character	other variants of the title
type	character	anime type (e.g. TV, Movie, OVA)
source	character	source of anime (i.e original, manga, game, music, visual novel etc.)
producers	character	producers
genre	character	genre
studio	character	studio
episodes	double	number of episodes
status	character	Aired or not aired
airing	logical	True/False is still airing
start_date	double	Start date (ymd)
end_date	double	End date (ymd)
duration	character	Per episode duration or entire duration, text string
rating	character	Age rating
score	double	Score (higher = better)
scored_by	double	Number of users that scored
rank	double	Rank - weight according to MyAnimeList formula
popularity	double	based on how many members/users have the respective anime in their list
members	double	number members that added this anime in their list
favorites	double	number members that favorites these in their list
synopsis	character	long string with anime synopsis
background	character	long string with production background and other things
premiered	character	anime premiered on season/year
broadcast	character	when is (regularly) broadcasted
related	character	dictionary: related animes, series, games etc.

Horror Movies

Source: https://github.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/blob/master/data/2022/2022-11-01/readme.md

Variable	Type	Definition	Example
id	int	unique movie id	4488
original_title	char	original movie title	Friday the 13th
title	char	movie title	Friday the 13th
original_language	char	movie language	en
overview	char	movie overview/desc	Camp counselors are stalked…
tagline	char	tagline	They were warned…
release_date	date	release date	1980-05-09
poster_path	char	image url	/HzrPn1gEHWixfMOvOehOTlHROo.jpg
popularity	num	popularity	58.957
vote_count	int	total votes	2289
vote_average	num	average rating	6.4
budget	int	movie budget	550000
revenue	int	movie revenue	59754601
runtime	int	movie runtime (min)	95
status	char	movie status	Released
genre_names	char	list of genre tags	Horror, Thriller
collection	num	collection id (nullable)	9735
collection_name	char	collection name (nullable)	Friday the 13th Collection

Roy Kent F-ck count

Source: https://github.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/blob/master/data/2023/2023-09-26/readme.md#roy-kent-fk-count

variable	class	description
Character	character	Character single value - Roy Kent
Episode_order	double	The order of the episodes from the first to the last
Season	double	The season 1, 2 or 3 associated with the count
Episode	double	The episode within the season associated with the count
Season_Episode	character	Season and episode as a combined variable
F_count_RK	double	Roy Kent’s F-ck count in that season and episode
F_count_total	double	Total F-ck count by all characters combined including Roy Kent in that season and episode
cum_rk_season	double	Roy Kent’s cumulative F-ck count within that season
cum_total_season	double	Cumulative total F-ck count by all characters combined including Roy Kent within that season
cum_rk_overall	double	Roy Kent’s cumulative F-ck count across all episodes and seasons until that episode
cum_total_overall	double	Cumulative total F-ck count by all characters combined including Roy Kent across all episodes and seasons until that episode
F_score	double	Roy Kent’s F-count divided by the total F-count in the episode
F_perc	double	F-score as percentage
Dating_flag	character	Flag of yes or no for whether during the episode Roy Kent was dating the characted Keeley
Coaching_flag	character	Flag of yes or no for whether during the episode Roy Kent was coaching the team
Imdb_rating	double	Imdb rating of that episode

TV’s Golden Age

Source: https://github.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/blob/master/data/2019/2019-01-08/readme.md

type	variable	missing	complete	n	min	max
character	genres	0	2266	2266	5	25
character	title	0	2266	2266	1	51
character	titleId	0	2266	2266	9	9
Date	date	0	2266	2266	1990-01-03	2018-10-10
integer	seasonNumber	0	2266	2266	NA	NA
numeric	av_rating	0	2266	2266	NA	NA
numeric	share	0	2266	2266	NA	NA

Video Games

Source: https://github.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/blob/master/data/2019/2019-07-30/readme.md

variable	class	description
number	double	Game number
game	character	Game Title
release_date	character	Release date
price	double	US Dollars + Cents
owners	character	Estimated number of people owning this game.
developer	character	Group that developed the game
publisher	character	Group that published the game
average_playtime	double	Average playtime in minutes
median_playtime	double	Median playtime in minutes
metascore	double	Metascore rating

Components of ggplot2 in R

ggplot2 is a data visualization package in R that is part of the tidyverse. This package allows for layering of various graphic components to build complex visualizations.

Basic Syntax

The foundation of any ggplot is the ggplot() function, to which you can add different geoms (geometric objects) to visualize the data.

library(ggplot2)
ggplot(data = data_frame, aes(x = variable1, y = variable2)) + geom_point()

In this line, data_frame is the dataset being visualized, aes() is the function to map variables to aesthetic attributes, and geom_point() adds points to the plot for each combination of x and y values.

Aesthetic Mappings (aes)

The aes() function allows you to map variables in your dataset to aesthetic attributes like x-position, y-position, color, fill, and transparency (alpha).

ggplot(data = data_frame, aes(x = variable1, y = variable2, color = variable3)) + geom_point()

Here, variable3 is mapped to the color aesthetic, resulting in points with colors that reflect the value of variable3.

Labs (Labels)

The labs() function is used to customize or add labels to the ggplot, such as the title and axis labels.

ggplot(data_frame, aes(x = variable1, y = variable2)) + geom_point() + labs(title = "My Plot", x = "X-Axis", y = "Y-Axis")

Pre-Made Themes

ggplot2 comes with several pre-made themes like theme_minimal() and theme_light() that can be easily applied to a plot.

ggplot(data_frame, aes(x = variable1)) + geom_histogram() + theme_light()

Customizing Themes

For more control over the look of your plot, you can use the theme() function and specify various elements.

ggplot(data_frame, aes(x = variable1)) + geom_histogram() + theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45))

Color Schemes

To set or customize color schemes, you can use scale_color_* and scale_fill_* functions.

ggplot(data_frame, aes(x = variable1, fill = variable2)) + geom_histogram() + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Blues")

Binwidth

In histograms, the binwidth parameter specifies the width of each bin.

ggplot(data_frame, aes(x = variable1)) + geom_histogram(binwidth = 5)

Legends

Legends in ggplot2 are usually generated automatically but can be customized using the guides() function or directly within scale_* functions.

ggplot(data_frame, aes(x = variable1, color = variable2)) + geom_point() + guides(color = guide_legend("Legend Title"))

This allows you to change the title of the legend from the default to “Legend Title.”

Distribution Plots

This section covers various types of distribution plots including histograms, density plots, violin plots, and boxplots.

Histogram

A histogram is a graphical representation that organizes a group of data points into specified ranges. It is an estimate of the probability distribution of a continuous variable. Histograms are effective in visualizing the frequency distribution of continuous data sets. By grouping data into intervals, histograms provide a clear picture of the distribution’s shape and the prevalence of data points within specific ranges. The data is partitioned into bins, and the number of data points in each bin is represented by the height of the corresponding bar (Wickham, 2016). Here, we are using the richmondway dataset to examine the frequency distribution of “F-ck Count” by the character Roy Kent.

ggplot(richmondway, aes(x = F_count_RK)) +
  geom_histogram() +
  labs(title = "Distribution of Roy Kent's F-ck Count",
       x = "F-ck Count",
       y = "Frequency")

Density Plot

Density plots visualize the distribution of a continuous variable over a continuous range. Unlike histograms, these plots are smooth, which makes them suitable for estimating the probability density function of the underlying variable (Silverman, 1986). In this example, we will be using the horror_movies dataset to visualize the density of movie ratings.

Find the 5 Most Popular Languages

First, let’s find out which languages are the most popular in the dataset.

horror_movies %>%
  group_by(original_language) %>%
  count() %>%
  arrange(desc(n)) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  top_n(5)

Filter for top languages

After identifying which languages to include, create a new data set filtered for these languages.

horror_movies_top_5_languages <- horror_movies %>%
  filter(original_language %in% c("en", "es", "ja", "pt"))

Create Density Plot

After filtering for the top 5 languages, a density plot is created.

ggplot(horror_movies_top_5_languages, aes(x = vote_average)) +
  geom_density(aes(fill = original_language), alpha = 0.5) +
  labs(title = "Density Plot of Horror Movie Ratings",
       x = "Rating",
       y = "Density")

Violin Plot

Violin plots combine features of boxplots and density plots to show the distribution, median, and interquartile range of the data. They are particularly useful for comparing the distributions of multiple categories in a dataset (Hintze & Nelson, 1998). Here, we use the video_games dataset to visualize the average metascores for the top 5 publishers.

Find the 5 Most Prolific Publishers

First, we identify which publishers are most prolific.

video_games %>%
  group_by(publisher) %>%
  count() %>%
  arrange(desc(n)) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  top_n(5)

Create Violin Plot

After filtering for the top 5 publishers, we generate the violin plot.

video_games_top_5_publishers <- video_games %>%
  filter(publisher %in% c("Big Fish Games", "SEGA", "Strategy First", "Ubisoft", "Square Enix"))

ggplot(video_games_top_5_publishers, aes(x = publisher, y = metascore)) +
  geom_violin() +
  labs(title = "Violin Plot of Average Metascore by Top 5 Publisher",
       x = "Publisher",
       y = "Average Metascore")

Boxplot

A boxplot provides a graphical representation of the central tendency and spread of a dataset, depicting the median, quartiles, and potential outliers. Boxplots are useful for identifying skewness and outliers in the data (Tukey, 1977). We’ll use the anime dataset to explore how scores are distributed across different types of anime.

ggplot(anime, aes(x = type, y = score)) +
  geom_boxplot(fill = "#ff00ff", color = "#770077") +
  labs(title = "Boxplot of Anime Scores by Type",
       x = "Type",
       y = "Score")

Correlation Plots

This section focuses on the use of correlation plots including scatter plots, heatmaps, and bubble plots.

Scatter Plot

Scatter plots are particularly adept at demonstrating the relationship between two quantitative variables. By plotting data points on a two-dimensional graph, they allow for the observation of patterns or correlations within the data. A scatter plot utilizes Cartesian coordinates to display values of two variables, one plotted along the x-axis and the other plotted along the y-axis. It is commonly used to observe and show relationships between two numeric variables (Cleveland, 1994). In this example, we are using the richmondway dataset.

Convert Seasons to Factor

It’s common practice to convert categorical variables to factors when plotting in ggplot2.

richmondway <- richmondway %>%
  mutate(Season = as.factor(Season))

Create Scatter Plot

We then proceed to create the scatter plot.

ggplot(richmondway, aes(x = F_count_total, y = F_count_RK)) +
  geom_point(aes(color = Season), size = 3) +
  theme_minimal() + 
  labs(title = "Roy Kent F-ck Count by IMDB Rating",
       x = "Total F-ck Count",
       y = "F-ck Count")

Connected Scatter Plot

A connected scatter plot combines elements of both scatter and line plots to visualize the relationship between two variables while emphasizing the sequence or progression of data points. Unlike a traditional scatter plot that only displays individual data points, a connected scatter plot links these points with lines, highlighting the order or trend of the data. This method is particularly useful when tracking the progression of two variables in relation to each other over time or categories, and it can reveal patterns that might not be evident in a standard scatter plot. A line plot, on the other hand, typically focuses on showing a trend or change in a single variable over time or categories and is more straightforward in depicting time series data. Line plots are invaluable in data visualization for their ability to illustrate trends and changes over time. The connection of data points with a line makes it straightforward to track progressions or declines within the dataset.

In the following example, we will use the richmondway dataset to create a connected scatter plot. The aim is to plot the average F_count_total for each season, showing how this average changes from one season to the next.

Average F_count_total by Season

First, we need to compute the average F_count_total for each season. This will ensure that each season is represented by a single data point in the plot.

richmondway_avg <- richmondway %>%
  group_by(Season) %>%
  summarize(Avg_F_count = mean(F_count_total))

Create Connected Scatter Plot

Now, we create the connected scatter plot using ggplot2. This plot will show the average F_count_total for each season and connect these averages to illustrate the trend over the seasons.

ggplot(richmondway_avg, aes(x = Season, y = Avg_F_count)) +
  geom_point(aes(color = Season), size = 3) +
  geom_line(aes(group = 1), color = "blue") +
  theme_minimal() +
  labs(title = "Average F-ck Count Across Seasons",
       x = "Season",
       y = "Average Total F-ck Count")

In this connected scatter plot, each point represents the average total count of a particular term (in this case, “F-ck Count”) for a season. The lines connecting these points demonstrate the progression or trend of this average over the seasons, providing a clear visualization of how the average count changes from one season to the next. The use of different colors for each season can further aid in distinguishing the data points, enhancing the overall understanding of the trends displayed.

Heatmap

A heatmap is a data visualization technique that represents the magnitude of observations as color in a two-dimensional plane. This plot is often used to understand complex data structures and correlations between multiple variables (Wilkinson & Friendly, 2009). In this example, we use the horror_movies dataset.

correlation_matrix <- cor(horror_movies[,c("popularity", "vote_count", "vote_average", "budget", "revenue")], use = "complete.obs")
ggplot(melt(correlation_matrix), aes(x=Var1, y=Var2)) +
  geom_tile(aes(fill=value), colour="white") +
  scale_fill_gradient(low="white", high="blue")

Bubble Plot

A bubble plot is an extension of the scatter plot, where a third dimension of data is added through the size of the bubbles. This allows for the simultaneous comparison of three variables (Cleveland, 1994). We use the video_games dataset in this example.

12.3.0.0.2 Remove Free Titles and Titles with Missing Data

First, we remove the rows with missing values and rows where any column has a 0 value.

nonzero_video_games <- video_games %>%
  filter(complete.cases(.)) %>%  # Remove rows with missing values (NA)
  filter(!rowSums(. == 0))  # Remove rows where any column has a 0 value

Create Bubble Plot

We then proceed to create the bubble plot.

ggplot(nonzero_video_games, aes(x = median_playtime, y = metascore, size = price)) +
  geom_point(aes(color = owners), alpha = 0.6) +
  labs(title = "Bubble Plot of Playtime, Metascore, Price, and Ownership",
       x = "Median Playtime",
       y = "Metascore")

Ranking Plots

This section will cover the creation of ranking plots, specifically bar plots and lollipop plots.

Bar Plot

Bar plots represent categorical data with rectangular bars where the lengths are proportional to the counts or values they represent. Bar plots can be oriented horizontally or vertically and are useful for comparing quantities across categories (Wickham, 2016). Bar plots are preferred over line plots when the goal is to compare discrete categories or distinct groups. The segmented nature of bar plots makes them ideal for highlighting differences between items without implying a continuous sequence.

Identify Top Anime Producers

In this code snippet, we identify the top anime producers in the anime dataset.

anime %>%
  group_by(producers) %>%
  count() %>%
  arrange(desc(n)) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  top_n(6)

Create a New Data Frame for Just the Top Five Producers

Here we filter the anime data to only include records from the top five producers.

anime_top_5_producers <- anime %>%
  filter(producers %in% c("TV Tokyo", "Aniplex", "Bandai Visual", "Lantis", "Movic"))

Create New Data Frame with the Average Score by Producer

We then calculate the average score by producer. Note the use of na.rm = TRUE to remove NA values for an accurate mean.

anime_avg_score_by_producer <- anime_top_5_producers %>%
  group_by(producers) %>%
  summarise(avg_score = mean(score, na.rm = TRUE))  # Remove NA values for accurate mean

Create Bar Plots

Finally, a bar plot is created using the average scores by producer.

ggplot(anime_avg_score_by_producer, aes(x = reorder(producers, -avg_score), y = avg_score)) +
  geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
  labs(title = "Bar Plot of Average Score by Producer",
       x = "Producers",
       y = "Average Score")

Lollipop Plot

A lollipop plot combines elements of bar plots and scatter plots to represent values of different categories. It consists of a stem (akin to the bar in a bar plot) and a dot (akin to the point in a scatter plot) at the end of the stem to signify the value (Tufte, 2001).

Separate Genres into New Rows

Assuming television is your original dataset, this code separates each genre into a new row.

# Assuming `television` is your original data frame
long_television <- television %>%
  separate_rows(genres, sep = ",\\s*")  # Separate by comma and any subsequent whitespace

Identify Top Genres

This code identifies the top 10 genres from the television dataset.

television_top_genres_list <- long_television %>%
  group_by(genres) %>%
  count() %>%
  arrange(desc(n)) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  top_n(10)

television_top_genres_list

Create New Data Frame for Just the Top 10 Genres

Here we filter the data to only include records from the top 10 genres.

television_top_genres <- long_television %>%
  filter(genres %in% television_top_genres_list$genres)

Calculate Average Rating for Each Genre

This code calculates the average rating for each genre.

television_top_genres_avg_share <- television_top_genres %>%
  group_by(genres) %>%
  summarise(share = median(share, na.rm = TRUE))

Create Lollipop Plot

Finally, a lollipop plot is created to visualize the average rating for each of the top 10 genres.

ggplot(television_top_genres_avg_share, aes(x = reorder(genres, -share), y = share)) +
  geom_segment(aes(xend = genres, yend = 0), color = "blue") +
  geom_point(size = 3, color = "red") +
  labs(title = "Lollipop Plot of Average TV Show Share by Genre",
       x = "TV Show Genre",
       y = "Average Share")

Part of a Whole

This section will cover various methods for depicting part-of-a-whole relationships in data visualization, including pie charts, grouped and stacked bar plots, and treemaps.

Pie Chart

A pie chart is a circular chart that divides data into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. Each slice represents a part-to-whole relationship (Bertin, 1983).

12.3.0.0.3 Dataset: Roy Kent F-ck count

A pie chart is created to visualize Roy Kent’s usage of the word “F-ck” across different seasons.

ggplot(richmondway, aes(x = "", y = F_count_RK, fill = factor(Season))) +
  geom_bar(width = 1, stat = "identity") +
  coord_polar("y") +
  labs(title = "Pie Chart of Roy Kent's F-ck Count by Season")

Grouped + Stacked Barplot

Reshape Data

The data is reshaped to facilitate the creation of grouped and stacked bar plots.

television_grouped <- television_top_genres %>%
  group_by(genres) %>%
  summarise(av_rating = mean(av_rating, na.rm = TRUE),
            share = mean(share, na.rm = TRUE)) %>%
  pivot_longer(cols = c(av_rating, share), names_to = "metric")

Create Grouped Barplot

A grouped barplot represents categorical data with multiple sub-categories. It uses adjacent bars to represent the different sub-categories within each primary category, facilitating direct comparison (Wickham, 2016). A grouped bar plot is created to show both average rating and share for each genre of television show.

ggplot(television_grouped, aes(x = genres, y = value, fill = metric)) +
  geom_bar(stat = "identity", position = "dodge") +
  labs(title="Television Shows: Average Rating and Share by Genre", y="Value") +
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, hjust = 1))

Create Stacked Barplot

A stacked barplot is similar to a standard bar plot but divides each bar into multiple sub-categories. This allows for the representation of part-to-whole relationships within each category (Wickham, 2016). A stacked bar plot is created to show both popularity and rating of horror movies by original language.

ggplot(television_grouped, aes(x = genres, y = value, fill = metric)) +
  geom_bar(stat = "identity", position = "stack") +
  labs(title="Television Shows: Average Rating and Share by Genre", y="Value") 

Treemap

Dataset: Horror Movies

A treemap displays hierarchical data as a set of nested rectangles. Each level in the hierarchy is represented by a colored rectangle (‘branch’), which is then sub-divided into smaller rectangles (‘leaves’) (Shneiderman, 1992). A treemap is created to visualize the vote count by original language for horror movies.

library(treemap)

treemap(horror_movies, 
        index = "original_language", 
        vSize = "vote_count", 
        title="Horror Movies: Vote Count by Language")

Store and Edit Plots

Filter data for unique show titles

tv_top_genres_list <- long_television %>%
  distinct(title, genres, .keep_all = TRUE) %>%
  group_by(genres) %>%
  count() %>%
  arrange(desc(n)) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  top_n(10, wt = n)

tv_top_genres_list

You can store a plot into your environment for easier recall.

tv_genres_bar <- ggplot(tv_top_genres_list, aes(x = reorder(genres, -n), y = n)) +
  geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
  labs(title = "Bar Plot of Show Count by Major Genre",
       x = "Genres",
       y = "Number of shows")

A stored plot can be added to without having to type out all of the code if it is previously stored in the environment.

First load package with unique themes

library(ggthemes)

Add to your stored plot

tv_genres_bar +
  theme_wsj()

Saving Plots in R Markdown

Once you’ve generated and refined your plot, it’s crucial to understand how to save it for further use, whether for presentation, publication, or collaboration. R Markdown, together with the ggplot2 library, offers flexible ways to save your plots in various formats.

Saving Plots Directly in R Markdown

Store plot you want to save locally.

tv_genres_bar_wsj <- tv_genres_bar +
  theme_wsj()

The above chunk will save the plot in the specified directory with the name “plot_name” followed by a figure number (e.g., “plot_name1.png”).

Saving Plots Using ggsave()

The ggsave() function, which comes with the ggplot2 library, provides a straightforward way to save the last plot that you created. Below are the steps and explanations:

1. PNG Format: Suitable for web applications.

ggsave("tv_genres_bar.png", plot = tv_genres_bar_wsj, width = 10, height = 5)

2. JPEG Format: Generally used for photographs on the web, but it’s lossy, meaning some image quality is compromised.

ggsave("tv_genres_bar.jpg", plot = tv_genres_bar_wsj, width = 10, height = 5)

3. PDF Format: Perfect for publications and where high quality is paramount. It retains the quality regardless of how much you zoom.

ggsave("tv_genres_bar.pdf", plot = tv_genres_bar_wsj, width = 10, height = 5)

4. SVG Format: A vector format suitable for web applications where scalability without loss of resolution is important.

library(svglite)

ggsave("tv_genres_bar.svg", plot = tv_genres_bar_wsj, width = 10, height = 5)

Explanation

• filename: The name you want to give to the saved plot, which also specifies the format based on the extension.
• plot: The specific plot you want to save. In this case, it’s tv_genres_bar + theme_wsj().
• width and height: The width and height of the saved plot in inches.

12.4 Designing Infographics in R

Infographics are a powerful tool for synthesizing complex information into engaging, easily digestible visual formats, making them particularly valuable in mass communications research for conveying key findings and insights to a broad audience. R, known for its statistical and graphical prowess, offers a suite of tools and packages that can be leveraged to create compelling infographics. This section explores the value of infographics in communicating research findings, introduces R tools and packages suited for infographic creation, and provides tips for effective infographic design.

12.4.1 Overview of Infographics and Their Value in Communicating Research Findings

• What Are Infographics? Infographics combine graphics, data, and text to tell a story or present information in a visually engaging way. They can simplify complex concepts, highlight key findings, and make data accessible to audiences who may not have a technical background.

• Value in Research Communication: In mass communications research, infographics can serve as an effective medium for sharing research outcomes with practitioners, policymakers, and the public, facilitating a broader impact and fostering informed discussions.

12.4.2 Tools and Packages in R for Creating Infographics

• ggplot2 for Base Graphics: The ggplot2 package is a versatile tool for creating a wide range of plots and charts that can serve as the foundation for infographics. Its layer-based approach allows for detailed customization of graphical elements.

• ggiraph for Interactivity: The ggiraph package extends ggplot2 by adding interactivity to the plots, such as tooltips and clickable elements, making the infographics more engaging and informative.

    library(ggiraph)
    gg <- ggplot(data, aes(x = variable1, y = variable2, tooltip = variable3)) + 
      geom_point_interactive() 
    girafe(ggobj = gg)

• patchwork for Layout Design: The patchwork package enables the combination of multiple ggplot2 plots into a cohesive layout, a useful feature for assembling various components of an infographic.

    library(patchwork)
    plot1 + plot2 + plot_layout(ncol = 1)

• Other Helpful Packages: Packages like gridExtra and cowplot can also assist in arranging plots and graphical elements, while RMarkdown and shiny can be used to create dynamic and interactive web-based infographics.

12.4.3 Tips for Effective Infographic Design

• Simplicity: Aim for a clean and uncluttered design that focuses on key messages. Use space effectively to guide the viewer’s attention to the most important information.

• Readability: Choose fonts and colors that enhance readability. Text should be concise and informative, complementing the visual elements without overwhelming them.

• Engagement: Incorporate elements that encourage viewer interaction or reflection. This could include questions, prompts for further exploration, or interactive features in web-based infographics.

• Consistency: Maintain consistent use of colors, fonts, and styles throughout the infographic to create a cohesive visual narrative.

• Accessibility: Consider accessibility by ensuring that color choices are distinguishable for color-blind individuals and that text is sufficiently large to be easily readable.

Designing infographics in R combines the software’s robust data handling and graphical capabilities with creative design principles, enabling researchers in mass communications and beyond to share their findings in an impactful and accessible manner. By adhering to best practices in infographic design and utilizing the appropriate R tools and packages, researchers can enhance the dissemination and impact of their work, reaching wider and more diverse audiences.

12.5 Advanced Visualization Techniques

In mass communications research, advanced visualization techniques are essential for exploring and presenting complex relationships within datasets. From visualizing the intricacies of multiple linear regressions to mapping out network data or geographical distributions, R offers a powerful toolkit for creating sophisticated visual representations. This section delves into various advanced visualization techniques, including visualizing multiple linear regressions, creating heat maps and correlation plots, and introducing network diagrams and maps, all within the R environment.

12.5.1 Visualizing Multiple Linear Regressions

• Understanding Multiple Linear Regressions: Multiple linear regression is a statistical technique that models the relationship between a dependent variable and two or more independent variables. It allows researchers to assess the impact of each predictor while controlling for the effects of others.

• Techniques for Visualizing Regression Models and Their Interactions:

  • ggplot2 for Model Visualizations: Use ggplot2 to create scatter plots with regression lines or to plot residuals to assess model fit.

library(ggplot2)
model <- lm(dependent_variable ~ predictor1 + predictor2, data = dataset)
ggplot(dataset, aes(x = predictor1, y = dependent_variable)) + 
  geom_point() + 
  geom_smooth(method = "lm", se = FALSE)

-   **Plotting Interactions:** Visualize interactions between predictors by creating interaction plots, which can highlight how the effect of one variable depends on the level of another.

interaction.plot(dataset$predictor1, dataset$predictor2, model$fitted.values,
                 legend = TRUE)

12.5.2 Heat Maps and Correlation Plots

• Creating Heat Maps: Heat maps are a useful tool for visualizing complex datasets, including correlation matrices. They use color gradients to represent the magnitude of values, making it easy to identify patterns or areas of interest.

library(ggplot2)
library(reshape2)
data_matrix <- cor(dataset)
melted_data <- melt(data_matrix)
ggplot(melted_data, aes(Var1, Var2, fill = value)) + 
  geom_tile() + 
  scale_fill_gradient2(low = "blue", high = "red", mid = "white", 
                       midpoint = 0, limit = c(-1,1), space = "Lab", 
                       name="Correlation") +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, hjust = 1))

12.5.3 Network Diagrams and Maps

• Visualizing Network Data: Network diagrams are essential for representing relationships between entities, such as social media interactions or organizational structures. The igraph package in R facilitates the creation and visualization of network graphs.

library(igraph)
network <- graph_from_data_frame(d=edges, vertices=nodes)
plot(network)

• Introduction to Geographical Information: For visualizing geographical data, such as the distribution of media outlets or audience demographics across regions, the ggplot2 package, along with extensions like ggmap, provides tools for mapping data.

library(ggplot2)
library(ggmap)
map_data <- get_map(location = 'United States', zoom = 4)
ggmap(map_data) + 
  geom_point(aes(x = long, y = lat, color = variable, size = value), data = geo_data) +
  scale_color_gradient(low = "yellow", high = "red") +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

Advanced visualization techniques in R empower mass communications researchers to uncover and communicate complex patterns and relationships within their data. By effectively applying these techniques, researchers can provide deeper insights into their studies, making their findings more accessible and impactful. Whether through detailed regression analyses, heat maps of correlation matrices, network diagrams, or geographical mappings, R’s extensive visualization capabilities are an invaluable asset in the researcher’s toolkit.

12.6 Customizing Visualizations in R

The ability to customize visualizations in R is one of its most powerful features, allowing researchers in mass communications and beyond to refine their plots for clarity, impact, and audience engagement. Through customization, visualizations can be tailored to convey the intended message more effectively, making complex data more accessible and interpretable. This section covers key aspects of customizing plot aesthetics in R, including themes, colors, and fonts, adding annotations and labels for enhanced understanding, and adjusting plot dimensions for publication and presentations.

12.6.1 Customizing Plot Aesthetics: Themes, Colors, and Fonts

• Themes: The ggplot2 package offers several built-in themes (e.g., theme_minimal(), theme_light()) that can be applied to any plot for instant changes to its appearance. For more control, the theme() function allows you to modify specific components of the plot, such as text, background, gridlines, and legend.

ggplot(data, aes(x = variable1, y = variable2)) + 
  geom_point() +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(text = element_text(family = "Arial", size = 12),
        legend.position = "top")

• Colors: Colors play a crucial role in data visualization, enhancing differentiation and readability. ggplot2 enables color customization at various levels, from individual points to entire plots. The scale_color_manual() function is particularly useful for specifying custom color palettes.

ggplot(data, aes(x = variable, fill = category)) + 
  geom_bar() +
  scale_fill_manual(values = c("blue", "green", "red"))

• Fonts: Adjusting font family, size, and style can significantly improve a plot’s readability and aesthetic appeal. While ggplot2’s theme() function allows for broad font adjustments, the extrafont package can be used to incorporate a wider range of fonts.

library(extrafont)
ggplot(data, aes(x = variable1, y = variable2)) + 
  geom_point() +
  theme(text = element_text(family = "Times New Roman", size = 14))

12.6.2 Adding Annotations and Labels to Enhance Understanding

• Annotations: Adding text annotations or highlighting specific data points can draw attention to key findings or explain unusual patterns. The annotate() function is versatile, allowing for the inclusion of text, lines, and shapes.

ggplot(data, aes(x = date, y = value)) + 
  geom_line() +
  annotate("text", x = specific_date, y = specific_value, label = "Note", size = 5)

• Labels: Clear and descriptive labels for axes, titles, and legends are essential for understanding a plot. The labs() function provides a simple way to customize these elements, improving the communicative value of the visualization.

ggplot(data, aes(x = variable1, y = variable2)) + 
  geom_point() +
  labs(title = "Title of the Plot", x = "X-axis Label", y = "Y-axis Label", color = "Legend Title")

12.6.3 Adjusting Plot Dimensions and Exporting for Publication and Presentations

• Adjusting Dimensions: The size and aspect ratio of a plot can impact its presentation and readability. Adjusting plot dimensions is crucial, especially when preparing visualizations for publication or presentations. The ggsave() function allows you to specify dimensions and resolution when saving plots.

ggsave("plot.png", plot = last_plot(), width = 8, height = 6, dpi = 300)

• Exporting: R supports exporting visualizations in various formats, including PNG, PDF, and SVG, catering to different mediums and requirements. The choice of format can affect the quality and scalability of the visual output, with vector formats like PDF and SVG being preferred for print publications due to their scalability.

Customizing visualizations in R not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of plots but also improves their ability to communicate complex data effectively. By carefully adjusting themes, colors, fonts, and incorporating annotations and labels, researchers can create visually compelling and informative graphics that resonate with their audience. Adjusting dimensions and carefully selecting export formats further ensures that these visualizations meet the high standards required for publication and presentations, making them powerful tools for storytelling in mass communications research.

12.7 Interactive Visualizations with R

Interactive visualizations elevate the presentation and exploration of data by allowing users to engage directly with the information through dynamic charts, maps, and dashboards. In the context of mass communications research, where audience engagement and the dissemination of complex findings are paramount, interactive visualizations can play a critical role. R, with its comprehensive ecosystem, offers powerful packages like plotly and shiny for creating web-based interactive visualizations. This section introduces these tools, guides you through creating interactive charts and dashboards, and discusses the applications of interactive visualizations in mass communications research.

12.7.1 Introduction to Interactive Visualizations Using Packages like plotly and shiny

• plotly: plotly is a package that converts static plots created with ggplot2 or base R graphics into interactive web-based visualizations. It supports a wide array of chart types and interactivity features, such as tooltips, zooming, and filtering.

library(plotly)
p <- ggplot(data, aes(x = variable1, y = variable2)) + geom_point()
ggplotly(p)

• shiny: shiny is a framework for building interactive web applications directly from R. It allows for the development of comprehensive interactive dashboards that can include user inputs, dynamic outputs, and real-time data processing.

library(shiny)
ui <- fluidPage(
  selectInput("variable", "Choose a variable:", choices = names(data)),
  plotOutput("plot")
)
server <- function(input, output) {
  output$plot <- renderPlot({
    ggplot(data, aes_string(x = input$variable, y = "value")) + geom_point()
  })
}
shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)

12.7.2 Creating Web-based Interactive Charts and Dashboards

• Designing Interactive Charts: When designing interactive charts with plotly, consider which interactive elements (e.g., hover information, clickable legends) will enhance the user’s understanding and exploration of the data.

• Building Interactive Dashboards with shiny: Interactive dashboards typically combine multiple elements, including plots, tables, and user input controls. Planning the layout and functionality in advance can help create a more coherent and user-friendly experience.

12.7.3 Applications of Interactive Visualizations in Mass Communications Research

• Audience Engagement Analysis: Interactive visualizations can be used to present data on audience engagement across different platforms, allowing users to explore variations by demographic factors, time, or content type.

• Social Media Trend Exploration: Researchers can create dashboards that track and visualize social media trends, sentiment analysis, or network connections, offering insights into public opinion and media influence.

• Media Content Analysis: Interactive charts can facilitate the exploration of media content analysis results, such as themes, frequencies, and associations within large datasets of textual or visual media content.

• Educational Tools: For teaching mass communications concepts, interactive visualizations can serve as engaging educational tools, allowing students to explore data and understand the impact of different media phenomena.

Interactive visualizations in R, leveraging the capabilities of plotly and shiny, provide mass communications researchers with powerful tools to communicate complex data and insights in an engaging and accessible manner. By enabling audience interaction with the data, these visualizations not only enhance understanding but also encourage deeper exploration and engagement with the research findings.

12.8 Best Practices for Data Visualization

Data visualization is a powerful tool in mass communications research, offering a visual narrative to complement quantitative analyses. However, its effectiveness and integrity depend on adherence to ethical standards and best practices. This section outlines essential considerations for ethical data visualization, guidance for selecting appropriate visualization types, and strategies for effective storytelling with data.

12.8.1 Ethical Considerations in Data Visualization

• Accuracy: Ensure that visualizations accurately represent the data without exaggeration or distortion. Misleading representations can not only erode trust but also lead to incorrect conclusions.

• Non-deception: Avoid visual tricks that might mislead the viewer, such as manipulating axis scales or using inappropriate data representations that could alter the perceived significance or relationships within the data.

• Accessibility: Design visualizations with all audiences in mind, including those with visual impairments. Use colorblind-friendly palettes and provide text descriptions or alt text for key visual elements to ensure broader accessibility.

12.8.2 Choosing the Right Type of Visualization for Your Data

• Understand Your Data: Start by understanding the nature of your data (categorical, continuous, time-series, etc.) and the story you want to tell. Different data types and research questions require different visualization approaches.

• Match Visualization to Your Objectives: Align your choice of visualization with your objectives. Use bar charts to compare quantities, line graphs for trends over time, scatter plots for relationships, and maps for geographical data.

• Consider Your Audience: Tailor your visualization type to your audience’s needs and familiarity with data interpretation. Simplify complex visualizations or provide additional context for audiences less familiar with data analysis.

12.8.3 Storytelling with Data: Crafting a Narrative Around Your Visualizations

• Start with a Clear Message: Identify the key message or insight you want to communicate through your visualization. This message should guide the design and presentation of your data.

• Narrative Flow: Organize your visualizations in a logical sequence that guides the viewer through your analysis, building up to your key findings. Use titles, subtitles, and annotations to direct attention and explain the significance of each visualization.

• Engage and Persuade: Use storytelling techniques to engage your audience emotionally and intellectually. Incorporate real-world implications, anecdotes, or hypothetical scenarios that relate the data to broader social or cultural contexts.

• Feedback and Iteration: Share your visualizations with colleagues or your target audience for feedback. Use their insights to refine your visualizations and narrative for clarity, impact, and engagement.

Data visualization in mass communications research serves not just to illustrate quantitative findings but to communicate complex ideas and insights in an intuitive and compelling manner. By adhering to ethical standards, selecting appropriate visualization types, and effectively weaving a narrative around the data, researchers can enhance the impact of their work, fostering a deeper understanding and engagement among diverse audiences.