Compact letter display
Compact Letter Display (CLD) is a statistical method to clarify the output of multiple hypothesis testing conducted by ANOVA and Tukey's range tests. CLD facilitates the identification of variables, or factors, that have statistically different means (or averages) vs. the ones that do not have statistically different means. CLD also ranks variables by their respective mean (or average) in descending order. And, it identifies the group of variables (two or more) that do not have statistically different means. The CLD methodology can be applied to tabular data or visual data.
The basics of CLD
CLD identifies the variables that are statistically different vs. the ones that are not
Each variable that shares a mean that is not statistically different from another one will share the same letter. For example:
”a” “ab” “b”
The above indicates that the first variable “a” has a mean (or average) that is statistically different from the third one “b”. But, the second variable “ab” has a mean that is not statistically different from either the first or third variable. Let's look at another example:
”a” “ab” “bc” “c”
The above indicates that the first variable “a” has a mean that is statistically different from the third variable “bc” and the fourth one “c”. But, this first variable “a” is not statistically different from the second one “ab”.
Given the structure of the Roman alphabet, the CLD methodology could readily compare up to 26 different variables, or factors, with each of them having a statistically different mean from all the others. This constraint is typically much higher than the vast majority of multiple hypothesis testing conducted using ANOVA and Tukey's range tests.
CLD ranks the variables in descending mean order
So, the variable with the highest mean will be named “a” (if it is statistically different from all the others, otherwise it may be called "ab", etc.). And, the variable with the lowest mean will have the highest letter among the tested variables.
A CLD example
We are going to test if the average rainfall in five West Coast cities is statistically different. These cities are:
Eugene (OR)
Portland (OR)
San Francisco (CA)
Seattle (WA)
Spokane (WA)
The data is annual rainfall (1951 – 2021). The data source is NOAA.
First, we will improve the tabular data using CLD. Next, we will improve the visual data using CLD.
Improving tabular data with CLD
Here are the five West Coast cities rainfall data before applying CLD methodology.
As shown above, the rainfall data for the five West Coast cities is sorted in alphabetical order. This order is not informative. It is challenging to figure out which cities' respective mean or average are different from each other.
Next, we reproduce the same table but we sort the cities using the CLD methodology after we would have conducted a Tukey's range test.
The above table using the CLD methodology is far more informative. It has ranked the cities by their respective mean or average rainfall in descending order. And, it has also grouped the cities that have similar mean-rainfall (not statistically different using an alpha value of 0.05).
Improving visual data with CLD
Here is a first boxplot with cities just sorted in alphabetical order from left to right.
The boxplot above is not entirely clear. It is hard to distinguish the cities that are somewhat similar (average or mean is not statistically different) vs. the ones that are dissimilar (average or mean is statistically different). Now, let's view the same boxplot using the CLD methodology.
The boxplot above, using the CLD methodology, is now far more informative. The cities are sorted in descending order from left to right. The color density is tiered with the cities having higher rainfall being colored with more dense or opaque tones; meanwhile, the cities with lower rainfall have less dense or more transparent tones. Additionally, we can readily identify the cities that have similar means (not statistically different) such as Eugene & Seattle that are both identified with the "b" letter. Additionally, San Francisco & Eugene also have similar means as they are both identified with the "c" letter. On the other hand, Eugene has the highest rainfall of them all; and, it is statistically different (higher) than all other cities as it is the only city identified with the letter "a".
The benefits of CLD
In the absence of the CLD methodology, the main underlying way of identifying statistical difference in means between paired variables is the mentioned Tukey's range test. The latter is a very informative test catered to an audience of statisticians. Outside of such a specialized audience, the test output as shown below is rather challenging to interpret.
