Simple Error Bar Chart

This Tech Tip looks at how to run a simple error bar chart. The fastest way to run this chart is by using Chart Builder. To use Chart Builder, users can go to the Graphs menu and select Chart Builder.

In IBM SPSS Statistics, you can work inside a single, integrated interface to run descriptive statistics, regression, advanced statistics, and machine learning models. You can create publication-ready charts, tables, and decision trees in one tool. IBM SPSS Statistics is easy to use, provides analysis automation, comprehensive statistical tools, integration with open source, and help at your fingertips. 

Chart Builder is a visual, easy-to-use tool where users drag and drop variables to create charts. Users can also preview their charts as they are building them. There are also selections for Statistics, Appearance and Options.

To create a simple error bar chart, users can open Chart Builder and go to the ‘Choose from’ area to make a chart. Here, there is a list of chart types. These are Bar, Line, Area, Pie/Polar, Scatter/Dot, Histogram, High_Low, Boxplot, and Dual Axes. Users can then click on the Bar and select the simple error bar chart icon. Users can hover their cursor over any chart icon and obtain a description.

Once the simple error bar chart is selected, it is dragged into the Chart Preview area. A categorical variable is moved onto the x-axis, and a scale variable is moved onto the y-axis. The resulting chart shows averages across categories with confidence intervals for each average. The simple error bar chart allows users to compare averages and confidence intervals across categories and assess the precision of sample estimates.