SPSS For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 9. Fundamentals of Graphing

In This Chapter

• Creating graphs easily

• Building graphs the quick way

• Building graphs the old way

• Editing graphs

Over the years, the SPSS software has improved its methods for generating graphic displays of data. You can take the easy way and be guided through every step, or you can take a faster way and simply enter the values needed to build the graph you want. The older methods of producing graphs as output are still available and on the menu, so if you like to suffer while you work, you can use the procedures developed in previous years. In any case, you never have to worry about the size of text and graphics, and you don't have to think about the placement of the graph on the page — SPSS does all the grunt work for you.

SPSS can display your data in a bar chart, a line graph, an area graph, a pie chart, a scatterplot, a histogram, a collection of high-low indicators, a box plot, or a dual-axis graph. Adding to the flexibility, each of these basic forms can have multiple appearances. For example, a bar chart can have a two- or three-dimensional appearance, represent data in different colors, or contain simple lines or I-beams for bars. The choice of layouts is almost endless.

Tip

In the world of SPSS, the terms chart and graph mean the same thing and are used interchangeably.

Note

The Graphs menu in the SPSS Data Editor window has three options: Chart Builder, Graphboard Template Chooser, and Legacy Dialogs. These options are different ways of doing ...