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Radar plots: a useful way for presenting multivariate health care data.

Saary MJ

Gage Occupational and Environmental Health Unit, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada. joan.saary@utoronto.ca

OBJECTIVE: Health care researchers have not taken full advantage of the potential to effectively convey meaning in their multivariate data through graphical presentation. The aim of this paper is to translate knowledge from the fields of analytical chemistry, toxicology, and marketing research to the field of medicine by introducing the radar plot, a useful graphical display method for multivariate data. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Descriptive study based on literature review. RESULTS: The radar plotting technique is described, and examples are used to illustrate not only its programming language, but also the differences in tabular and bar chart approaches compared to radar-graphed data displays. CONCLUSION: Radar graphing, a form of radial graphing, could have great utility in the presentation of health-related research, especially in situations in which there are large numbers of independent variables, possibly with different measurement scales. This technique has particular relevance for researchers who wish to illustrate the degree of multiple-group similarity/consensus, or group differences on multiple variables in a single graphical display.

Published 3 March 2008 in J Clin Epidemiol, 61(4): 311-7.
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