Software to Draw DAGs

Amy Pitts and Charly Fowler

2023-02-14

Outline

Softwares:

Tikz
DAGitty
ggdag
dagR

Presentation Structure:

Overview and resources
Pros and cons
Three examples of DAGs (confounding, mediation, more complex)

We will conclude with a comparison chart, honorable mentions, and our general recommendations depending on your needs.

Tikz

This is a LaTeX package for creating DAGs.

\usepackage{tikz}
\tikzset{> = stealth} % nicer looking arrows

Overview:

Developers: Till Tantau, Christian Feuersänger
Depends: TeX

Resources:

Tikz

Pros:

Very flexible, able to easily adjust size, shape, and color of nodes and lines
Allows for curved lines, subscripts and math symbols
Lots of online help and resources
Very intuitive code

Cons:

Must specify node locations using coordinates or relative to other nodes, no automatic placement
No built-in exposure, outcome covariates framework (this may be good for more complicated DAGs)
Steeper learning curve if unfamiliar with latex
So many options for customization, can be overwhelming

Tikz

Code

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}
% nodes
%generally: create node, circle shape, 
%named C with (X = 0, Y = 2) coordinates, 
%labeled C
\node[circle, draw] (C) at (0, 2) {C}; 
\node[circle, draw]  (A) at (1, 0) {A};
\node[circle, draw]  (Y) at (3, 0) {Y};
% edges
\draw[->, thick]
(C) edge (A)
(C) edge (Y)
(A) edge (Y);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

DAG 1