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Data representation and analysis in Excel

Lets Get Started!
ThiscoursewillteachyouhowtoanalyzedataandmakechartsinExcelsothatthedatamayberepresentedinavisual
waythatreflectsthenatureofdata.ThenatureofExcelprogrammakescrossplatformimportingandstylingcharts
mucheasier,andboastsafluidandvisualinterface.

Tomakeachart,firstensurethatyouhavedata.

What is the nature of your data?

Thinkofthedatathatyouhaveandhowyouwanttoshowcaseit.

Dimensions
Howmanygroupsofdataareassociatedateverysingledatapoint?Thisdeterminesthedimensionofyourdata.Ifyou
aretryingtorepresentthespeedofacarwithrespecttotime,thiswouldbea2Ddatagroup.Ifyouaretryingto
representthemassandvelocityofalaunchingrocketoveraperiodoftime,yourdataare3D.Anenergylandscapeof
(X,Y)coordinatesandrespectiveenergyvaluesisalsoa3Ddatagroup.Anythingdealingwithpartsofawhole,oradding
uptoacertainpercentage,isa1Ddatagroup.Youcanalsocreatechartsthatpresentstoupto7D(ormore)ofdata,
suchasascalarfieldin3Ddirections,but
mostpeoplefindhardtoregisterwithmore
than7or8dimensions.

Chart Types

One Dimensional Chart

Pie
Useapiegraphtoshowanyamountofdata

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addingupto100%forexample,useapiechartforcountingvotes.40%areblue,24%arered,26%aregreen,10%are
purple.Beforeyoudoanything,makesureallyourdataareofthesameunitandcanaddup.Youmightnotwanttoadd
thevotesfromonevotingtothoseofanother.

Figurelegendsareofutmostimportanceinapiechart,withoutwhichyoucannotknowwhichonegroupofdatais
which.Youcansetupalegendbyspecifyingwhichgroupiswhichonthedataspreadsheet.Itwouldlookevenbetterof
youcanaddfiguresoneachsliceandatitleonthetop.

Two Dimensional Charts

Themostsignificant2typesof2Dchartsarecolumn/barchartsandline/scattercharts.Tochoosebetweenthem,you
mightwanttocountthetotalnumberofyour
datapoints:usuallyanythingabove5data
pointsrequiresaline/scattercharter,whereas
withalowernumberofdatapointsa
column/barchartisbetter.Thisisbecausebar
chartsaremorevisualinnatureandshould
conveyalltheirinformationwithinoneglimpse.
LineandScatterpointchartsaremore
analytical.Barchartsareexcellentfor
presentations.

Column / Bar
ColumnchartandBarchartarethesamekindof
chartsonlywithdifferentdirections.Itisgood
fordatathatusesdatesorconveysthepassage
oftime.

Whenyousetupyouroriginaldatatable,itisa
goodhabittohavecolumntitlesandunits.
Notice2Ddatahave2columns.Thenumberof
datapointswouldequaltothenumberofrows.

Alwaysincludesufficientdataonyourcharts!
Forpresentationpurposes,alwaysincludean
appropriateexplanatorytitle.Includetheunitsoneitherthelegendortheaxistitles.Utilizetheaxistitlestopresent
whatthenaturesofthedataare.

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Line/Scatter

Alinegraphisjustascatterpointgraphwithdotsconnectedandevenlydistributingavaluealongthexaxis.Forthis
reasonitismuchlessusedthanascatterpoint.Usealine/scattergraphtoseeatrendinonesetofdata,ortocompare
thetrendsofseveralsetsofdata.Theyarealsogoodforgraphsusingdatesortime.Toproduceatrend,weusually
requireadecentnumberofdatapoints.Scatterpointchartsarewidelyusedinresearchandindustriesbecauseofits
excellentpotentialtobeanalyzed.

Ascatterpointchartstartswithadatatableofmorethan5datapoints.Asanexample,afreefallprocessof5seconds
withthedistancetravelsmeasuredevery0.5secondswouldhave11datapoints.Theresultingplotshouldhaetwo
variables:timeanddistance.Ofthe2variables,theindependentvariableshouldbeonthexaxisandthedependent
variableshouldbeontheyaxis.

Whencreatingachartforresearchpurposes,severalelementsareessentialtoyourchartrepresentation:theaxislabels
withunitsandfigurelegendexplainingthenatureofthegraphbelowthegraph.Oftenatitleisnotnecessary.

MultiDimensional Charts

Line/ scatter
Oftentimesourdatamighthavemorethanonedependentsvariableassociatedwiththeindependentvariable.For
example,intheexperimentabove,thevelocitycanbemeasuredateverypointinadditiontothedistancetraveled.Such
datawouldhavemorethan2columnsandwouldrequiremorethan1pointgroup/linetorepresent.

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Heat map/Wind rose

Sometimesourdatawouldhavemorethanoneindependentvariable.

Heatmapsareusedtopresentrangeatgivenlocations,it
wouldhavetwoindependentvariables:latitudeand
longitude,andonedependentvariable,thetemperature.
Thetemperaturewouldpresentedbyarangeofcolors,
usuallywarmercolorsmeanhighertemperaturesandcooler
colorsmeanlower.

Anotherkindofmapisthewindrose.Itstwoindependent
variablesaredirectionandfrequency,andthedependent
variableisthepercentage.

Notethecolorschemeonthecharts.Whenpresentingthefigures,itsalmostneveragoodideatopresentaheatmap
withblackandwhite,asthiswoulddullthedistinctionbetweenwarmandcoolcolors.Ontheotherhand,ifyouthink
yourgraphmightbepresentedinblackandwhite,considerchoosingamonochromaticcolorscheme.

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Inserting a Chart

Ifyoudontselectanydata,Excelwillcreateachartthatincludesallofthedataonyoursheet.Youcanalsochooseto
selectdatabyclickinganddragging,orbyholdingdowntheCtrlkeyandselectingrowsandcolumns.Makesureyour
columnandrowheadersareincludedifyouwantyourdatainthechartlabeled.

Onceyouvedecidedwhetherornottoselectyourdata,goaheadandeitherselecttheappropriatedataormakesure
thatnocellsareselected.

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ClicktheInserttab.IntheInsertChartsbox,clickColumnandselectatypeofcolumncharttoinsert.Yourchartwill
appearanobjectinyoursheet.Youmayfinditeasiertoworkwithyourchartifitisanothersheet,andyoucanmoveit
byselectingit(itwillbeselectedbydefaultafteryouinsertit)andtypingCtrl+Xtocutthechart.Selectanothersheet
byclickingSheet2,forexample,atthebottomlefthandcornerofyourscreen,andtypeCtrl+Vtopastethechart.This
way,youcanworkwithyourchartandyourdatawithouthavingthemoverlap.Anychangesyoumakewiththedata
willstillbereflectedinyourchart.

Chart Tools
Modifying Chart Design

Add Chart Element
TheAddChartElementbottonintheleftmostoftheribbonhelpstoeditthevariouselementsonthesite.Amongthe
elements,TrendlinesandErrorBarsareveryusefulindataanalysisandcouldbeusedinscatterpointgraghs.

Axis Labels
IntheDesigntoolbar,clickAddChartElement>AxisLabeltolabeltheaxisonwhichyourdataisdisplayed.Always
remembertoaddtheunits.

Legends
IntheDesigntoolbar,clickAddChartElement>Legendstolabelthedatasetswithcorrespondingcolors.Thisisonly
necessarywhentheismorethanonepointgroupandthecolorsneedtobedifferentiated.

Trend lines, equations and Rsquared

IntheDesigntoolbar,clickAddChartElement>Trendlinetoaddatrendlinetoagivendataset.Oncethetrendlineis
added,theFormatTrendlineboxshouldappearontheright.Youcanalsobringouttheboxbydoubleclickingyour
trendlineonthegraph.

TheFormatTrendlineboxcontrolswhichalgorismwouldbeusedtodefinethedataset,aswellasthedifferent
elementstobedisplayonthegraph.

Toadjusttheelements,gototheTrendlineoptionstab.

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TheLinearoptionshouldbeusedifyourdependentvariableand
theindependentvariablearedirectlyproportionalwitheach
other.Itwoulddisplayastraightlineonthegraph.

ThePolynomialoptioncanbeusedifthedependentandthe
independentvariablearerelatedinthecertainorder.Ie,thetime
anddistancetraveledexampleonpagethree.Theorderdepends
onthenumberofpeaksinthedataset,andalwaysequaltoa
maxim/minimum+1.

TheMovingAverageoptionismostoftenusedinstatistical
sampleswheneachdatapointhavenocorrelationwiththe
independentvariable.

SometimesthegraphscallforEquationsandRsquaredvalues.
ThesecanbedisplayedbycheckingtheDisplayEquationonchart
andDisplayRsquaredvalueonchartoptions.

Error Bars
IntheDesign
toolbar,clickAdd
ChartElement>
ErrorBarstolabel
thedatasetswith
corresponding
Errorbars.Witha
givendataset,
Excelcancalculate
thestandarddeviationofthesetandlabelitonthegraph.Longer
errorbarwouldindicatelargermoredeviationtoanaverage
value.SimilartoFormatTrendlinebox,theFormatErrorBarboxcanhelpyouadjustthekindsoferrorbarsorevenhelp
defineacustomamount.

Select Data
Ifyouchangeyourmindaboutthedatayouselectedandwouldlike
toselectdifferentdata,youcanaccomplishthisbyclickingonSelect
DataintheDesignribbon.Hereyoucandecidewhatneedstogoin
thechart.IntheLegendEntries(Series)column,youcandecide
howmanysetsofdatayouwanttohaveinthechart.Mostwill
automaticallyhave2seriesset,evenifyouonlyselectoneseriesof
data.ClickonaSeries,andthentheEditbutton.Youcanchangethenameofwhateachline,bar,orplotpointwillbe.
YoucanalsoaddmorebyclickingtheAddbutton.IntheSeriesnamebox,type=NameofSeries.InSeriesvalues

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box,clickanddragonthedatayouwantfromyourdataset,anditshouldautomaticallyaddtoyourchart.Anyseries
canalsobedeletedwiththeRemovebutton.IntheHorizontal(Category)AxisLabelscolumn,youcanselectwhat
labelswillgoalongthexaxis:justclickanddragtheonthecellsthatyouwant.BelowbothcolumnsistheHiddenand
EmptyCellsbutton,whichwillletyoudecidehowyouwanttodealwithcellsthathavenodatainthem.Youcaneither
choosetohaveitshowasemptyspace(Gaps)orcountedasanumber(Zero).

Move Chart Location

IntheDesigntoolbar,clickMoveChartLocationifyouwouldliketomoveyourcharttoanewsheetormakeitan
objectinanexistingsheet.Thiscanalsobeaccomplishedbyselectingthechartandcuttingandpastingittoanew
location.

Change Colors
IntheDesigntoolbar,clickChangeColorsifyouwouldliketoadjustthedefaultcolorschemeofyourgraph.Allgraphs
inonemanuscriptshouldhaveaconsistenttheme,ie,differentshadesofblue.Excelalsooffersavarietyof
monochromaticschemethatscompatiblewithblackandwhiteprinting.

Clean up unnecessary elements

Youcanalwaysdeleteunwantedelementsbydoubleclickingontheelementuntilarectangleappearsaroundthe
element,thenclickbackspaceonthekeyboard.

Charts in Other Applications

ItispossibletoinserttableschartsinotherMicrosoftOfficeapplicationsdirectlyfromthoseapplicationsbyusingthe
Insertmenu.ThisisaneffectivewaytoinsertchartsintoWorddocumentsorintoPowerPointpresentations,butithas
somecomplications,andwerecommendthatyousimplyinsertyourchartintoyourExcelspreadsheetandcustomizeit
appropriately,thensimplycopyandpastethechartintoyourdocumentorpresentation.Itwillbepossibletomodify
thechartonlybychangingitssize.AnyothermodificationswillneedtobemadeinExcel,andthenyouwillneedto
copyandpastethenewversionofthechart.

Help
ThereareseveralwaystogethelpinMicrosoftExcelshouldyoufindthatyouhaveaproblem.

PowerPointHelpmenu:ClicktheF1keyonyourkeyboardortheHelpbuttonavailableattherighthandsideofeach
ribbontobrowsethroughacollectionofhelptopicsortosearchforatopic.

Googleisanexcellenttoolsolongasyouaresufficientlyspecificinyoursearchterms:howtochangechartlayoutin
Excel2013isanexample.

TechnologyAssistantsandConsultantsandPeer2Peerteachers:WecanbefoundattheTechnologyHelpDeskintheInfo
Commons,4thfloorLibrary.Ifwedontknowtheanswertoyourquestion,weknowsomeoneelsewhodoes!

PreparedbyWanshuZhu,LITS/CTS/Peer2PeerTeam,September2014