Field note · July 1, 2024
clinical-trial.site: 6 values, 52.7% in the top three
6 values with 19.3% concentrated in one of them, and what that does to every chart downstream.
Distribution of site on clinical-trial, because every chart built on it inherits this shape.
site-2— 174 rows, 19.3%site-4— 152 rows, 16.9%site-3— 148 rows, 16.4%site-6— 146 rows, 16.2%site-1— 142 rows, 15.8%
The top three take 52.7% between them. With only 6 values there is no tail to worry about, which makes this a genuinely easy column to chart.
select site,
count(*) as rows,
round(100.0 * count(*) / sum(count(*)) over (), 1) as pct,
round(avg(baseline_score)::numeric, 2) as avg_baseline_score
from clinical_trial
group by 1
order by rows desc;The second column is the one that matters. Share of rows tells you what is common; avg_baseline_score tells you whether the common thing is the important thing. They disagree more often than not, and a chart that shows only the first is answering the easier question.
Decide what happens to the tail before you plot it. "Other" as an explicit bucket is honest; twelve slivers is not, and neither is silently taking the top eight.