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R ggplot2 Jitter

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The R ggplot2 Jitter is very useful to handle the overplotting caused by the smaller datasets discreteness. Let us see how to plot a ggplot jitter, Format its color, change the labels, adding boxplot, violin plot, and alter the legend position using R ggplot2 with example.

Syntax of a R ggplot Jitter

The syntax to draw a ggplot jitter in R Programming is

geom_jitter(data = NULL, width = NULL, height = NULL)

and the complex syntax behind this Jitter is:

geom_jitter(mapping = NULL, data = NULL, stat = "identity",
            width = NULL, height = NULL, position = "jitter", ...,
            na.rm = FALSE, show.legend = NA, inherit.aes = TRUE)

TIP: The ggplot2 package not installed by default. Please refer Install R Packages article to install the package.

Create R ggplot2 Jitter

Let us see how to plot the Jitter using the ggplot2 package, and we are going to use the ChickWeight data set, provided by the Studio.

NOTE: If you require to import data from external files, then please refer R Read CSV article to import the CSV file.

# Create R ggplot Jittering

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight)) + 
  geom_jitter()

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 1

Change Colors of a Jiiter in R

Let us see how to change the Jitter plot dot colors using the color argument

# Change Color of a R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight)) + 
  geom_jitter(aes(colour = Diet))

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 2

Position adjustment in a R ggplot2 Jitter

Here, we show how to adjust the dot positions using position argument

# Position adjustment of a R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight)) + 
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.5), 
              aes(colour = Diet))

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 3

Change Size, and Shape of a dot in a R ggplot2 Jitter

How to change the size of the character that represents the point using cex argument, and shape of the character using shape argument.

  • cex: Please specify the size of the point(s)
# Change Shape & Size of a Point in a R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight)) + 
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.5), 
              aes(colour = Diet),
              cex = 1.8, shape = 8)

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 4

Change Width, and Height of a R ggplot2 Jitter

In this example, we show how to change the width and height of the jitter plot

# Change Width & Height of a R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight)) + 
  geom_jitter(aes(colour = Diet),
              width = 1.4, height = 500)

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 5

Add Mean & Median to R ggplot2 Jitter

Let us see how to add Mean, and Median value to Jitter plot using stat_summary function.

# Add Mean & Median to R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight)) + 
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.5), aes(colour = Diet)) +
  stat_summary(fun.y = "mean", geom = "point", 
               shape = 8, size = 3, color = "darkorchid4" ) +
  stat_summary(fun.y = "median", geom = "point", 
               shape = 2, size = 3, color = "mediumvioletred")

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 6

Add Boxplot to R ggplot2 Jitter

In this example, we add boxplot to R Jitter using geom_boxplot function. It help us to see the Median, along with the quartile for our violin plot.

TIP: Please refer R ggplot2 Boxplot article to understand the Boxplot arguments.

# Add Boxplot to R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight)) + 
  geom_boxplot() +
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.5), aes(colour = Diet))

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 7

Add Boxplot to R ggplot2 jitter 2

In this example, we draw a line on each side of the boxes using notch argument

# Add Boxplot to R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight)) + 
  geom_boxplot(notch = TRUE) +
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.5), aes(colour = Diet))

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 8

Add Violin plot to R ggplot2 Jitter

In this example, we show how to add Violin Plot to Jitter using geom_violin function.

TIP: Please refer R ggplot2 Violin Plot article to understand the Violin plot arguments.

# Add Violin Plot to R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight, color = Diet)) + 
  geom_violin(fill = "midnightblue") +
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.2))

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 9

Alter Legend position of a ggplot2 Jitter

By default, ggplot position the legend at the right side of a Jitter. Let us see how to change the legend position from right to top. Note, You can use legend.position = “none” to completely remove the legend.

# Alter Legend Position in R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight, color = Diet)) + 
  geom_violin(fill = "midnightblue") +
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.2)) +
  theme(legend.position = "top")

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 10

Assigning names to ggplot2 Jitter

How to assign names to ggplot jitter plot, X-Axis, and Y-Axis using labs function?

# Alter Legend Position in R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight, color = Diet)) + 
  geom_violin(fill = "midnightblue") +
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.2)) +
  theme(legend.position = "top")

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 11

Change R ggplot2 Jitter Theme

In this example, we show how to change the default theme of a ggplot jitter

  • theme_dark(): We use this function to change the jitter default theme to dark. If you type theme_ then R Studio intelligence will show you the list of available options. For example, theme_grey()
# Change the Theme of a R ggplot Jitter

# Importing the ggplot2 library
library(ggplot2)

# Creating basic Jitter
ggplot(ChickWeight, aes(x = Diet, y = weight, color = Diet)) + 
  geom_violin(fill = "midnightblue") +
  geom_jitter(position = position_jitter(0.2)) +
  labs(title="GGPLOT JITTER", x="Chick Diet", y="Weight") +
  theme_dark()

OUTPUT

R ggplot2 Jitter 12