# What's the name of this “barcode-like” graph (used for visualizing spread in data)? [duplicate]

Is there any specific name for the barcode-like graph shown above? The vertical axis does not correspond to any number and (as far as I can tell) the graph only serves to illustrate spread in the data.

The graph appears in the context of a hypothesis test in nonlinear time series analysis. The numerous short impulses represent the test statistic computed under the null hypothesis. The single long impulse near the center shows the observed value. (Obviously, one cannot reject the null hypothesis here.)

The mean (cross $\times$) and the standard deviation (of the null distribution) is represented by the horizontal line.

• If I would want to create something alike in SAS, I would start from a needle diagram. – Dirk Horsten Jan 10 '16 at 21:59
• 1. What's the image from? 2. Not simply the spread -- you can get a sense of location (like roughly where the median would be, for example), of where the density is higher or lower (and so get some sense of possible modes), of symmetry, of skewness, of the presence of heavy-tails/outliers ... – Glen_b -Reinstate Monica Jan 11 '16 at 0:55
• @Glen_b the graph appears in the context of a null hypothesis test. I've clarified the question. – Lambda42 Jan 11 '16 at 8:01
• Let me be more plain: If the image comes from someone else's work you'll need to give a proper reference and credit. – Glen_b -Reinstate Monica Jan 11 '16 at 8:18

• In R when they're not at the edge of a plot, they're stripcharts (with pch="|"). I drew one for this recent answer. – Glen_b -Reinstate Monica Jan 11 '16 at 0:48