R help - Nov 2012 - Psych package: fa.diagram, how to re-arrange layout so numbers do not over-write each other

Dear R help
I have conducted a fa() analysis,  and  I want to use fa.diagram to assess the
extent to which the 11 latent factors predict the 37 items in a psychological
battery.  However, the display on the screen has very large font size for the
coefficients of the relationship between the 11 factors and the 37 items, so the
numbers overlap and are therefore illegible.  When I output this to a pdf the
problem is exacerbated even further (see attachments).  I tried to use cex=0.8
and cex=0.4 in the pdf argument but it made no difference - what can I do?
The code I used is:
fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata)
# Start PDF device driver to save output to fa_diagram.pdf
pdf(file="I:\\ZAPi\\Tables-of-R-output\\fa_diagram.pdf", height=10,
width=5)
	fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata)
	#box() # Create box around plot
	dev.off() # Turn off device driver (to flush output to PDF)

pdf(file="I:\\ZAPi\\Tables-of-R-output\\fa_diagram_cex.pdf", height=8,
width=5)
	fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata,cex=0.8)
	#box() # Create box around plot
	dev.off() # Turn off device driver (to flush output to PDF)
Thank you so much for your time
Yours sincerely
Brent Caldwell

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Brent,
 Try setting the cex parameter to make the numbers smaller. 
Also try modifying the e.size (ellipse size) parameter.

Then, to make much better looking graphs, see if you can install Rgraphviz and
try using the fa.rgraph function or use the graphviz=TRUE parameter.
fa.diagram was a hack to get around the problem that graphviz was very hard to
install and sometimes would not even be possible to use.  The preferred function
(if you have Rgraphviz) is fa.rgraph.

Bill



On Nov 26, 2012, at 10:08 PM, Brent Caldwell <brent.caldwell at
otago.ac.nz> wrote:
> Dear R help
> I have conducted a fa() analysis,  and  I want to use fa.diagram to assess
the extent to which the 11 latent factors predict the 37 items in a
psychological battery.  However, the display on the screen has very large font
size for the coefficients of the relationship between the 11 factors and the 37
items, so the numbers overlap and are therefore illegible.  When I output this
to a pdf the problem is exacerbated even further (see attachments).  I tried to
use cex=0.8 and cex=0.4 in the pdf argument but it made no difference - what can
I do?
> The code I used is:
> fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata)
> # Start PDF device driver to save output to fa_diagram.pdf
> pdf(file="I:\\ZAPi\\Tables-of-R-output\\fa_diagram.pdf",
height=10, width=5)
> 	fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata)
> 	#box() # Create box around plot
> 	dev.off() # Turn off device driver (to flush output to PDF)
> 
> pdf(file="I:\\ZAPi\\Tables-of-R-output\\fa_diagram_cex.pdf",
height=8, width=5)
> 	fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata,cex=0.8)
> 	#box() # Create box around plot
> 	dev.off() # Turn off device driver (to flush output to PDF)
> Thank you so much for your time
> Yours sincerely
> Brent Caldwell
> 
>
<fa_diagram_cex.pdf><fa_diagram.pdf>______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
William Revelle		           http://personality-project.org/revelle.html
Professor			           http://personality-project.org
Department of Psychology   http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/psych/
Northwestern University	   http://www.northwestern.edu/
Use R for psychology             http://personality-project.org/r
It is 5 minutes to midnight	   http://www.thebulletin.org

Brent,
  No, cex doesn't work (as you have discovered).  That is a bug.
I will work on it.

In the meantime, try Rgraphviz called from fa.rgaph or
use the output from fa.graph which produces a dot file for processing with any
graphic package (including graphviz) which handles the dot language.

 

Bill

On Nov 26, 2012, at 10:08 PM, Brent Caldwell <brent.caldwell at
otago.ac.nz> wrote:
> Dear R help
> I have conducted a fa() analysis,  and  I want to use fa.diagram to assess
the extent to which the 11 latent factors predict the 37 items in a
psychological battery.  However, the display on the screen has very large font
size for the coefficients of the relationship between the 11 factors and the 37
items, so the numbers overlap and are therefore illegible.  When I output this
to a pdf the problem is exacerbated even further (see attachments).  I tried to
use cex=0.8 and cex=0.4 in the pdf argument but it made no difference - what can
I do?
> The code I used is:
> fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata)
> # Start PDF device driver to save output to fa_diagram.pdf
> pdf(file="I:\\ZAPi\\Tables-of-R-output\\fa_diagram.pdf",
height=10, width=5)
> 	fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata)
> 	#box() # Create box around plot
> 	dev.off() # Turn off device driver (to flush output to PDF)
> 
> pdf(file="I:\\ZAPi\\Tables-of-R-output\\fa_diagram_cex.pdf",
height=8, width=5)
> 	fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata,cex=0.8)
> 	#box() # Create box around plot
> 	dev.off() # Turn off device driver (to flush output to PDF)
> Thank you so much for your time
> Yours sincerely
> Brent Caldwell
> 
>
<fa_diagram_cex.pdf><fa_diagram.pdf>______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
William Revelle		           http://personality-project.org/revelle.html
Professor			           http://personality-project.org
Department of Psychology   http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/psych/
Northwestern University	   http://www.northwestern.edu/
Use R for psychology             http://personality-project.org/r
It is 5 minutes to midnight	   http://www.thebulletin.org

Dear Bill
Wow!  Thank you so much for your rapid reply - you are such a kind person, thank
you!
I'll try fa.rgraph - thanks
Thanks
Best wishes
Brent

-----Original Message-----
From: William R Revelle [mailto:revelle at northwestern.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, 27 November 2012 5:54 p.m.
To: Brent Caldwell
Cc: r-help at R-project.org
Subject: Re: [R] Psych package: fa.diagram, how to re-arrange layout so numbers
do not over-write each other

Brent,
  No, cex doesn't work (as you have discovered).  That is a bug.
I will work on it.

In the meantime, try Rgraphviz called from fa.rgaph or use the output from
fa.graph which produces a dot file for processing with any graphic package
(including graphviz) which handles the dot language.

 

Bill

On Nov 26, 2012, at 10:08 PM, Brent Caldwell <brent.caldwell at
otago.ac.nz> wrote:
> Dear R help
> I have conducted a fa() analysis,  and  I want to use fa.diagram to assess
the extent to which the 11 latent factors predict the 37 items in a
psychological battery.  However, the display on the screen has very large font
size for the coefficients of the relationship between the 11 factors and the 37
items, so the numbers overlap and are therefore illegible.  When I output this
to a pdf the problem is exacerbated even further (see attachments).  I tried to
use cex=0.8 and cex=0.4 in the pdf argument but it made no difference - what can
I do?
> The code I used is:
> fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata)
> # Start PDF device driver to save output to fa_diagram.pdf 
> pdf(file="I:\\ZAPi\\Tables-of-R-output\\fa_diagram.pdf",
height=10, width=5)
> 	fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata)
> 	#box() # Create box around plot
> 	dev.off() # Turn off device driver (to flush output to PDF)
> 
> pdf(file="I:\\ZAPi\\Tables-of-R-output\\fa_diagram_cex.pdf",
height=8, width=5)
> 	fa.diagram(fa.11factors.rawdata,cex=0.8)
> 	#box() # Create box around plot
> 	dev.off() # Turn off device driver (to flush output to PDF) Thank you 
> so much for your time Yours sincerely Brent Caldwell
> 
>
<fa_diagram_cex.pdf><fa_diagram.pdf>__________________________________
> ____________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide 
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
William Revelle		           http://personality-project.org/revelle.html
Professor			           http://personality-project.org
Department of Psychology   http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/psych/
Northwestern University	   http://www.northwestern.edu/
Use R for psychology             http://personality-project.org/r
It is 5 minutes to midnight	   http://www.thebulletin.org