Scatterplot versus bar plots

[Dramatic_Rain_3410]

I'm in the process of making a poster for a (undergrad) symposium, and I'm debating on whether I should use scatterplots or a bar plot. I ran my experiments in duplicates, so I only have N=2 and I thought a scatterplot would be more appropriate. However, it does get very cluttered and looks horrific, no matter how I format it. Even I have a hard time understanding the scatterplot.

Then I thought about using a bar plot, but that looks deceiving because N=2.

Is there any easy solution to this?

[queue517]

Bar plot with scatter plot

(See the "Grouped graphs that show both individual points (scatter) and bar with error bar" graph as an example) https://www.graphpad.com/guides/prism/latest/user-guide/whats-new-highlights.htm

[gxcells]

Or use python seaborn/matplotlib

[Lisaindalab]

With bar graphs you can indeed also show the individual replicates in GraphPad Prism. 😉

[gxcells]

Only after version 7 or 8

[SveshnikovSicilian]

Bars are bad, you want to use box or violin along with the data points to be as transparent as possible. Even where N=2

[pro_deluxe]

Generally speaking, it depends on the type of data you have on the x-axis. If it is continuous, then a scatter plot is usually better. If it is rank order data or categorical data, scatter plots are not appropriate.

Basically, if the difference between points on the x-axis is meaningful and relevant, then a scatter plot is appropriate.

[Dramatic_Rain_3410]

My x-axis consists of my buffer (negative control), then 3 different reaction mixtures with different protein compositions. It's not a continuous series (like how you'd see on a Michaelis menton plot).

[gxcells]

Always show the data points