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INTERPRETATION OF GRAPHS IN EXCEL AND SPSS 2
make it easy for readers to understand and interpret (Green & Salkind, 2017). However, one
of the major struggles that slows down this process of statistical analysis and reporting is the
comprehension of the types of charts to use and why. This is because selecting the wrong
visualization tool may cause confusion with the audience. In addition, simply deciding to use
the most commonly used type of visualization may result in interpreting a data set wrongly.
Therefore, to create graphs or charts that offer the right canvas for reporting and analysis, one
must first understand why they need a specific visualization tool. In this brief analysis, four
key charts utilized in the visualization of data are presented as a way of understanding the
In this analysis, week_2_data.sav was used as the data set, which included four
variables including level of education (Education), employees’ marital status (Marital), the
age of the employees in years (Age) and level of income (income). Education and marital
status were measured at the nominal level of measurement whereas age and income were
measured at the ratio (scale) level of measurement. Green and Salkind (2017) put forth that it
is necessary to comprehend these levels of measurement because they dictate the appropriate
charts or graphs to use. Additionally, they also determine the appropriate statistical analysis
to use and how one can phrase a research question where applicable (Ali & Bhaskar, 2016).
In the case of level of education, 1 was used to describe the employees with a diploma
a bachelor’s degree and 4 represented an employee with a master’s degree. On the other
INTERPRETATION OF GRAPHS IN EXCEL AND SPSS 3
hand, 1 was used to describe an employee who is single, 2 represented a married employee, 3
For nominal level variables, pie charts or bar charts are recommended (Green &
Salkind, 2017). As such, both a pie chart and bar chart were used to visualize the level of
Level of Education
A pie chart of level of education was created to visualize the different degree levels
attained by the company’s employees. As can be seen in the pie chart above, diploma
(33.33%) was the most common employee level of education followed by a bachelor’s degree
(26.67%). Additionally, the pie chart shows that the percentage of employees with a master’s
Marital Status
INTERPRETATION OF GRAPHS IN EXCEL AND SPSS 4
A bar graph was created to visualize the percentage of employees by marital status.
The bar graph above shows that most of employees were widowed (46.70%) and few
employees were separated (13.33%). On the other hand, the bar graph illustrates that the
percentage of employees who were single (20.00%) and married (20.00%) was the same.
Green and Salkind (2017) also recommend using a histogram for ratio or interval
variables. Therefore, a histogram was used to visualize both employees’ age and their level of
income.
Employees’ Age
The histogram above, which shows the ages of the employees, was created to depict
the range of the employees’ age. The histogram shows that the employees’ ages were
INTERPRETATION OF GRAPHS IN EXCEL AND SPSS 5
somewhat normally distributed. Most of the employees were between the ages of 26 and 50
years of age with ages between 27 and 35 being the most frequent. Further, the graph reveals
The histogram reveals that the employees’ level of income was normally distributed
with a mean of (M = 83866.67, SD = 33410.58). Analysis further reveal that income levels
between 50,000 and 125,000 were most frequent. The lowest levels of income were 25,000,
125,000 and 150,000 with the highest level of income being 75,000.
Further, a scatter graph was used in this analysis to examine the relationship between
the level of income and an employee’s age. As can be seen in the figure below, there is a
linear positive relationship between the level of income and an employee’s age. Specifically,
as the age of an employee increases so does their level of income. This could possibly mean
that the longer an employee has been with the company in question the likely it is for them to
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to select the right data visualization tool when trying to
understand sample data. It is evident that graphs or charts are easier to represent a data set
and makes it easier to interpret, detect trends, patterns and outliers in the data. Further, the
References
Ali, Z., & Bhaskar, S. (2016). Basic statistical tools in research and data analysis. Indian
Green, S., & Salkind, N. (2017). Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh, Books a la Carte