Row Panels for Bar Charts

This tech tip shows how to run bar charts with row panels. In IBM SPSS Statistics, you can work inside a single, integrated interface to run descriptive statistics, regression, advanced statistics, and machine learning models. This powerful platform equips you with comprehensive statistical tools, allowing you to create publication-ready charts, tables, and decision trees in one tool. With its integration with open source and help at your fingertips, IBM SPSS Statistics ensures you are well-equipped for any data analysis task.  

Analysts frequently use crosstab tables to investigate relationships between categorical variables. These tables can be visualized using a panelled bar chart. For instance, suppose we wish to explore the relationship between self-reported happiness and working status. The panelled bar chart allows us to put self-reported happiness on the X axis and working status in the panels.

To create this chart, users should navigate to the Graphs menu and select Chart Builder. This action will prompt a warning message to ensure that measurement levels are set for all variables included in the charts. Users may click Define Variable Properties to adjust variables and labels or proceed by clicking OK.

Within the Chart Builder dialog box, users should select Gallery and then choose the Bar types. The simple bar chart type can be dragged into the chart preview area. The variable ‘happy’ (self-reported happiness) should be placed on the X axis. Next, users will click on Groups/Point ID and check Rows panel variable to create the panels for the chart. Finally, users can select Statistics and click OK to generate the chart. Upon completion, users will be able to visually examine the relationship between working status and self-reported happiness.