Hi Statalisters,
many websites use tag clouds
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_cloud#Data_clouds) for different purposes
nowadays. I think tag clouds could also be a useful tool for basic
exploratory analysis in Stata.
Example 1 : Tag cloud of variable names (in alphabetical order or in order
of the dataset): Fontsize represents e.g. the proportion of missing values.
Example 2 : Tag clouds of values/value labels of a categorical var (with
many strata like postcodes in a region). Fontsize represents an aggregated
score in each stratum.
They can help to spot errors or extreme data distributions in variables or
subgroups or help to detect patterns.
There are a lot of methodological issues and statistical options for
visualisation of data in tag clouds.
But the basic question is: Can it be done in Stata?
Is there any routine to produce text in that way (like graph 3 or 4 in the
Wikipedia article)?
Best wishes
Stefan
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
