Composite Bar Chart (360)
What's on This Page:
About Composite Bar Charts
In 360, there are two kinds of bar charts. There is the standard bar chart, and then there is the Composite Bar Chart. The Composite Bar Chart is the most commonly used graph type in 360
evaluations. One is automatically generated for each question when you generate a new subject report.
Just like standard Bar Charts,Composite Bar Charts are great for displaying a lot of comparative information together in a simple way. The primary difference is in the Graph Options available, the fact Composite Bar Charts allow you to add whiskers, and the fact that the Composite Bar Chart has no 3D, percent, or vertical options.
Graph Options
Graph Options can be accessed by right-clicking the graph and selecting Graph Options, or by clicking the graph and then clicking the Graph Options button in the toolbar above.
General Graph Options
With a few exceptions, the Composite Bar Chart has very different options from all other graphs.
However, Labeling Options and Styling Options are the same.
Whiskers, Weighted Mean, and Standard Deviation
- Whiskers: Whiskers display the standard deviation or Min/Max as a gray line on the bar. Select which one you would like displayed by clicking the dropdown arrow next to Std. Dev.
- Weighted Mean: Calculated by taking the total score of all items and dividing it by the number of items in the scoring category. For example, if your total score is 50, and there were 10 questions in the scoring category, your weighted mean would be 5. Since weighted mean forces all scoring categories onto the same scale, this makes it good for comparing scoring categories that add up to different total points. You can also click the dropdown arrow beside it to change this to an unweighted Mean.
- Std. Dev: Display the standard deviation. Click where it says Std. Dev to select Min/Max instead, if you would prefer to display maximum and minimum values.
The bar underneath your options will preview your choices for you.
Hide Axis Labels
When selected, this hides labels to the left of the graph.
Hide Series Labels
When selected, this hides the labels on the bars themselves.
Axis Scale
- Scale Min: Let the graph automatically determine a minimum value for the scale, or set one manually.
- Scale Max: Let the graph automatically determine a maximum value for the scale, or set one manually.
- Scale Step: Determine the intervals between the number axis. A scale with an interval of 1 will go 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., but a scale with an interval of 0.5 will go 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, etc.
To customize any of the values, navigate to where it says Define and click change in blue.
Decimal Places
Determine the number of decimal places that appear in the numbers on your graph.
Show/Hide Series
Hide or reveal data sources on the graph. Items with checkmarks next to them are being shown in the graph.
Show/Hide Categories
Hide or reveal answer choices or scoring categories on the graph. Items with checkmarks next to them are being shown in the graph.
Sort By
Determine the order of the data in the graph by changing the field or direction it is sorted by.
Clear Properties
If you’ve made edits to the graph, this option will clear them out and revert the graph back to it’s original settings.