When and why should we use faceting instead of bubble plots?

Python
#1

When I was learning visualization techniques, two main techniques came to my consideration bubble plot and faceting. After researching I found two codes one is to help in plotting bubble plots and the other is in faceting. Here are the codes below:

Bubble plot:

Faceting:

Can someone explain to me the difference between bubble plots and faceting? When and why should we use faceting instead of bubble plots?

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#2

Hi @safa, Faceting, and bubble charts are two visualization techniques used to display data. Bubble charts are useful for displaying three dimensions of data (typically x and y coordinates and a third dimension represented by the size of each point). Faceting involves dividing a single plot into multiple smaller plots, each showing a subset of the data. Faceting is useful when you have a large dataset or want to compare different subsets or groups of data.

Both techniques can be used together, for example, by using faceting to display subsets of data and using a bubble chart in each facet to show relationships between data points.

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#3

Hello @safa, the visualization techniques you mentioned, bubble plots and faceting, are distinct visualization methods used to explore and analyze data. The choice between these techniques depends on the nature of the research question and the data being analyzed.

A bubble plot is a type of scatter plot used to visualize three variables at once. In a bubble plot, two variables are represented on the x and y axes, while the third variable is indicated by the size of the bubbles. In the code you provided, the x and y variables are plotted on a scatter plot, and the size of the bubbles (s) represents the third variable.

Faceting is a technique used to break down a dataset into smaller subsets and plot each subset on a separate plot. In the code you provided, your sample dataset is divided into four subsets based on the labels in the y variable, and each subset is plotted on a separate plot within the same figure.

As I mentioned before, the choice between these two techniques depends on the research question and the nature of the data being analyzed.

  • Bubble plots are useful when the researcher wants to identify patterns or relationships between three variables.
  • On the other hand, faceting is useful when the researcher wants to analyze subsets of the data and compare them to each other.

I hope this clears up any confusion and helps you better understand the code and its applications.

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