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Graphics for social scientists

Published:14 July 1976Publication History
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Abstract

The social science computing environment and the implications of this for the developers of computer graphics is described. Graphic software developed for social scientists at the University of Michigan is illustrated. MULTIGROUP is used to generate displays in the process of data analysis. GRAPH is used to report results to others. A graphical editor is employed to customize displays.

References

  1. MIDAS is a sophisticated statistical system which is capable of performing a wide range of analyses and data manipulations. The multigroup command within MIDAS performs analyses requested by the user and then invokes our graphics routines and the supporting IG routines (see note 3 below) for plotting. For a description of MIDAS see Daniel J. Fox and Kenneth E. Guire (1974) Documentation for MIDAS Michigan Interactive Data Analysis System, the Statistical Research Laboratory, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. GRAPH will be described below. A user's writeup can be obtained from the Computer Support Group, Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research, P. O. Box 1248, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  3. The Integrated Graphics library was developed by the University of Michigan Computing Center. The library is described in a paper in these Proceedings by James Blynn and Andy Goodrich "The Internal Design of the IG Routines, an Interactive Graphics System for a Large Timesharing Environment."Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  4. Norman Nie (1975) et al Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, N.Y.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. Institute for Social Research (1973), OSIRIS III, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. W. J. Dixon (Ed.) (1973) BMD, Bomedical Computer Programs. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  7. There is no universal graphics terminology for the types of pictures we will describe. Hopefully the referents of these terms will become obvious, if only after seeing the examples used later in this paper.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  8. For a discussion of an interactive graphic system used for factor analysis and multidimensional scaling see Edward J. Schneider and David John Gow, (1975) "Extending the Information Transfer in Multidimensional Analysis through the Use of Interactive Graphics," Computer Graphics Vol. 9, pp. 191-200.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  9. A standard text on regression analysis is Applied Regression Analysis by M. R. Draper and H. Smith (1966) Wiley, N.Y.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  10. Perhaps the most innovative uses of graphics in statistics has been developed by John W. Tukey, Exploratory Data Analysis, Addison-Wesley, Reading Mass. (forthcoming).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  11. For a description of an impressive set of Fortran callable subroutines see I. Hirschsohn, etal "Design and Implementation of the DISSPLA Graphics Language". pp. 31-44 in Douglas Lewin (Ed) Interactive Systems (1975), Online, Uxbridge, England.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  12. The hierarchial data structure is a feature of the Integrated Graphics library.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  13. MIDAS was used over 100,000 times in the last year alone.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  14. L. Borman, W. D. Dominick, R. Hay Jr., P. Kron, and B. Mittman, "Personalized Management and Graphical Display of Data: An Extensible System Approach," Proceedings of the SIGDA/SIGNOD/SIGGRAPHWorkshop on Data Bases for Interactive Design," September 1975, pp. 36-44.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

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    • Published in

      cover image ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics
      ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics  Volume 10, Issue 2
      Summer 1976
      301 pages
      ISSN:0097-8930
      DOI:10.1145/965143
      Issue’s Table of Contents
      • cover image ACM Conferences
        SIGGRAPH '76: Proceedings of the 3rd annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques
        July 1976
        301 pages
        ISBN:9781450373531
        DOI:10.1145/563274

      Copyright © 1976 ACM

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      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      • Published: 14 July 1976

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