Paper 192–31 Creating Statistical Graphics in SAS 9.2: What Every Statistical User Should Know

Effective graphics are essential to modern statistical analysis. SAS 9.1 introduced an experimental ex-tension to the Output Delivery System (ODS), which is used by over two dozen SAS/STAT and SAS/ETS procedures to create statistical graphics as automatically as they create tables. This extension, referred to as ODS Statistical Graphics (or ODS Graphics for short), requires minimal additional syntax, and it provides displays commonly needed for data analysis and statistical modeling, including scatter plots, histograms, and box-and-whisker plots. General ODS features, such as styles and destination statements, apply equally to tables and graphs. With the production release of ODS Graphics in SAS 9.2, many more statistical procedures have been modified to use this new functionality; see Appendix A for a list. For example, PROC LOGISTIC produces effects plots, and PROC RSREG produces contour and ridge plots. New SAS/GRAPH procedures, as well as existing SAS/QC procedures, also take advantage of ODS Graphics functionality. SAS 9.2 introduces an interactive graphics editor, with which you can make immediate, data-specific changes to your graphs, such as customizing titles and annotating points. SAS 9.2 also adds ODS styles that are designed specifically for statistical work. In addition to describing this new work, this paper presents the basics of creating, modifying, and managing graphics. Note: At the time of this writing, some of the features described in this paper were being completed. When SAS 9.2 is released, an updated version of this paper will be provided in the Papers section a