Chapter 02

Exploring Data with

(Selective) Graphs

Research Methods
Dr. Asif Mahmood
Institute of Business & Management,
UET Lahore

The SPSS Chart Builder

The basic Chart Builder dialog box can
be accessed through the
menu.
There are some important parts of this
dialog box:
Gallery: For each type of graph, a
gallery of possible variants is shown.
Variable list: The variables in the
data editor are listed here

The canvas: This is the main area in the dialog box for a preview of the
graph.
Drop zones: These zones are designated with blue dotted lines to drag
variables from the variable list.
There are two ways to build a graph:
first is by using the gallery (default option) of predefined graphs
second is by building a graph on an element-by-element basis

Histograms
:the histogram gallery

First, access the chart builder

Select Histogram in the list Choose
from to bring up the
Select the appropriate type either by
double-clicking on it, or by dragging it
onto the canvas :
Simple histogram: Use this option
when you just want to see the
frequencies of scores for a single variable.
Stacked histogram: If you had a grouping variable.
Frequency polygon: This option displays the same data as the simple
histogram, except that it uses a line instead of bars to show the
frequency, and the area below the line is shaded.
Population pyramid: Like a stacked histogram, this shows the relative
frequency of scores in two populations variable on vertical axis and
frequencies on horizontal axis

Example
(Luck or Hard work)

Data was collected from 250 people on their level of success using a
composite measure involving their salary, quality of life and how closely their
life matches their aspirations.
This gave a score from 0 (complete failure) to 100 (complete success).
Then an intervention was implemented; success was measured again 5 years
later.
People were randomly allocated to the following two instructions.
The variables are:
Strategy (hard work or wishing on a star)
Success_Pre (their baseline level of success)
Success_Post (their level of success after 5 years)
(The data are in Jiminy Cricket.sav)

Simple Histogram
Double-click on the icon for a
simple histogram
The Chart Builder dialog box will
show a preview of the graph in
the canvas area.
Click on Success_Post in the list
and drag it
It is a preview only of the general form of the
graph, and not what your specific graph will
actually look like
To draw the histogram click
The distribution is quite lumpy: although there is a
peak of scores around 50 (the mid-point of the
scale), there are quite a few scores at the high
end, and fewer at the low end. This creates the
impression of negative skew.

Population Pyramid
Click on the population pyramid icon to
display the template for this graph on the
canvas.
Select the variable representing the
success scores after the intervention and
drag it into
to set it as the
variable that you want to plot.
Select the variable Strategy and drag it to
to set it as the variable for which
you want to plot different distributions.
There are two histograms representing
each strategy for success
Click
to produce the graph

Exercise:(Luck or Hard work)

Produce a histogram and population pyramid for the success scores before the
intervention

Boxplots
(boxwhisker diagrams)

A boxplot or boxwhisker diagram is a really useful way

to display data
At the centre of the plot is the median
Top and bottom are the limits within which the middle
50% of observations fall (the interquartile range, IQR)
Extending the top and bottom of the box are two
whiskers which show the top and bottom 25% of scores
(approx).. Upper and lower quartiles
In the chart builder select Boxplot in the list Choose from to bring up the gallery.
There are three types of boxplot:
Simple Boxplot:
To plot a boxplot of a single variable for different categories in the data
Clustered Boxplot:
Same as simple boxplot, except that you can select a second categorical
variable on which to split the data within a group
1-D Boxplot: This boxplot is for a single variable (differs from the simple boxplot
in that no categorical variable is selected for the x-axis)

Example
To make a boxplot of the post-intervention success scores
for two groups, double-click on the simple boxplot icon
Select the Success_Post variable and drag it into
Select the variable Strategy and drag it to
.
Two boxplots, one for wishers and one for hard workers).
Click
Tinted box represents the IQR (the middle 50% of scores)
The middle 50% of scores are more spread out for the
hard-work group than for those who wished on a star (the
box is much longer).
A thick horizontal line shows the median. The workers had
a higher median than the wishers, indicating greater
success overall.
Outlier: Any score > the upper quartile+1.5*IQR
Extreme case: Any case > upper quartile+3*IQR (The
same for below the lower quartile)
The whiskers also tell the range of scores

Graphing relationships: the scatterplot

Sometimes we need to look at the
relationships
between
variables
(rather
than
their
means
or
frequencies).
A scatterplot is a graph that tells us
whether there seems to be a
relationship between the variables,
what kind of relationship it is and
whether any cases are markedly
different from the others.

Chart builder Select Scatter/Dot in the list Choose from to bring up the
gallery with eight icons representing different types of scatterplot.
Simple scatter
To plot values of one continuous variable against another
Grouped scatter
This is like a simple scatterplot, except that you can display points belonging
to different groups in different colours (or symbols).

Graphing relationships: the scatterplot

Simple 3-D scatter
To plot values of one continuous variable against values of two others.
Grouped 3-D scatter
To plot values of one continuous variable against two others, but differentiating groups
of cases with different-coloured dots.
Summary point plot
This graph is the same as a bar chart, except that a dot is used instead of a bar.
Simple dot plot (density plot)
The graph is similar to a histogram, except that rather than having a summary bar
representing the frequency of scores, a density plot shows each individual score as a
dot.
Scatterplot matrix
This option produces a grid of scatterplots showing the relationships between multiple
pairs of variables.
Drop-line
This option produces a graph that is similar to a clustered bar but with a dot
representing a summary statistic (e.g., the mean) instead of a bar, and with a line
connecting means of different groups.

Simple scatterplot

This type of scatterplot is for looking at just two variables.

For example
A psychologist was interested in the effects of exam stress on exam
performance.
She devised and validated a questionnaire to assess state anxiety relating
to exams (called the Exam Anxiety Questionnaire, or EAQ).
This scale produced a measure of anxiety scored out of 100.
Anxiety was measured before an exam, and the percentage mark of each
student on the exam was used to assess the exam performance.
Draw a scatterplot of the two variables (data are in ExamAnxiety.sav).

Example Continued

Chart builderDouble-click simple scatterplot

On the canvas there is a graph with two drop zones:
one for the y-axis (outcome) and one for the x-axis.
Select Exam Performance (%) from the variable list
and drag it into the y-axis drop zone.
Click ExamAnxiety and drag it into the drop zone for
the x-axis.
Click
to produce the graph.
In scatterplot it is useful to plot a line that summarizes
the relationship between variables (this is called a
regression line
Click in the chart editor to open the Properties dialog
box.
Select Linear option and then click
(double click chart output to open chart editor)

Example Continued

Chart builderDouble-click simple scatterplot

On the canvas there is a graph with two drop zones:
one for the y-axis (outcome) and one for the x-axis.
Select Exam Performance (%) from the variable list
and drag it into the y-axis drop zone.
Click ExamAnxiety and drag it into the drop zone for
the x-axis.
Click
to produce the graph.
Scatterplot Interpretation
Majority of students suffered from high levels of
anxiety
No obvious outliers
Some general trend in the data (shown by the line)
Higher levels of anxiety are associated with lower
exam scores and vice-a-versa
There were no cases having low anxiety and low
exam performance

Grouped Scatterplot

This type of scatterplot is for looking at two continuous variables, but when
you want to colour data points by a third categorical variable.
We want to see whether male and female students had different reactions to
exam anxiety
For example, look at the relationship between exam anxiety and exam
performance in males and females (grouping variable).
Double-click on the grouped scatter icon in the chart builder.
There is an additional drop zone into which we can drop any categorical
variable (Gender) first action
Select Exam Performance (%) from the variable list
and drag it into the
drop zone, and select
Exam Anxiety and drag it into
drop zone.

Click

to produce the graph.

Matrix Scatterplot
It allows to see the relationship between all
combinations of many different pairs of
variables.
Access the chart builder and double-click on
the icon for a scatterplot matrix.
Drag all of the variables (Time Spent
Revising, Exam Performance %, and Exam
Anxiety) into the single drop zone.
Click
to produce the graph.
Intrepretation: the revision time and anxiety (grids C1 and A3) are inversely
related (the more time spent revising, the less anxiety the participant had
about the exam).
Here it looks like there is one possible unusual case a single
participant who spent very little time revising yet suffered very little
anxiety about the exam.
As all participants who had low anxiety scored highly on the exam, we
can deduce that this person also did well on the exam.

Editing Graphs

Double-click on the graph in the

SPSS viewer to open it in a new
window called the Chart Editor
Parts of the graph can also be
edited by selecting them and
then changing their properties.
To select part of the graph
simply click on it; it will become
highlighted in orange and a
new dialog box will appear
(Properties dialog box) by
double clicking it

Project (30 Marks)

You may replicate a foreign study in local context
Group Assignment (10 Marks), submit before one week of final exam
From literature reproduce the authentic research frameworks (as max
as possible)
Areas: Marketing, Human Resource, Finance, General Management,
Operations Management
Template:
Framework 1 (Reference)

Variable 1
(reference)
IV, DV, or MV
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3

Variable 2
(reference)
IV, DV, or MV
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3

Variable 3
(reference)
IV, DV, or MV
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3