Summary Plots With Adjusted Error Bars: The superb Framework With an Implementation in R

Abstract

Plotting the data of an experiment allows researchers to illustrate the main results of a study, show effect sizes, compare conditions, and guide interpretations. To achieve all this, it is necessary to show point estimates of the results and their precision using error bars. Often, and potentially unbeknownst to them, researchers use a type of error bars—the confidence intervals—that convey limited information. For instance, confidence intervals do not allow comparing results (a) between groups, (b) between repeated measures, (c) when participants are sampled in clusters, and (d) when the population size is finite. The use of such stand-alone error bars can lead to discrepancies between the plot’s display and the conclusions derived from statistical tests. To overcome this problem, we propose to generalize the precision of the results (the confidence intervals) by adjusting them so that they take into account the experimental design and the sampling methodology. Unfortunately, most software dedicated to statistical analyses do not offer options to adjust error bars. As a solution, we developed an open-access, open-source library for R—superb—that allows users to create summary plots with easily adjusted error bars.