A Graphical EDA Tool with ggplot2: Brinton

Abstract

We present brinton package, which we developed for graphical exploratory data analysis in R. Based on ggplot2, gridExtra and rmarkdown, brinton package introduces wideplot() graphics for exploring the structure of a dataset through a grid of variables and graphic types. It also introduces longplot() graphics, which present the entire catalog of available graphics for representing a particular variable using a grid of graphic types and variations on these types. Finally, it introduces the plotup() function, which complements the previous two functions in that it presents a particular graphic for a specific variable of a dataset. This set of functions is useful for understanding the structure of a data set, discovering unexpected properties in the data, evaluating different graphic representations of these properties, and selecting a particular graphic for display on the screen.