Scatter chart

How to create a scatter chart

Updated over a week ago

What is a Scatter chart used for?

Scatter plots are used to display the relationship between two different variables by plotting data points on horizontal and vertical axes. You can also add a third variable to control the size of the data points in your chart.

The example below shows you how to create a scatter plot showing the relationship between Unaided Awareness, Prompted Awareness and Top of Mind of different beverage brands.

Create the Scatter plot

  1. Open your database (here we are using the Beverages BHT demo - Crosstabs & Charting from the Free Sandbox folder).

  2. Switch to GRID-report.

  3. Click and drag Top of Mind, Unaided Awareness and Prompted Awareness from the Awareness folder and drop them on the columns ‘as-variable’.

  4. Click Calculate.

  5. Click CHART in the toolbar to enter chart mode.

  6. The table will automatically be shown as a bar graph, to change this to a Scatter plot select the Chart type icon next to Chart Style and select it from the list.

Edit the key settings of your Scatter chart

All the Chart Settings are shown in the pane on the left-hand side of the screen, the menu can change depending on what type of chart you are working on.

  • Select Chart Style to expand the options

  • Here you can choose which variable will populate the X or Y axis. If working with a third variable, here you choose the R variable (the data that calculates the radius of the bubbles).

  • In this example we input Unaided awareness as the X-axis, Prompted Awareness as the Y-axis against Top of Mind as the radius (R).

  • Under the Radius scaling select Linear and change the Max range to 100. The bubbles will now change size according to the size of the brand.

Add titles to axis

To add titles to your axis, enlarge either the X-Axis or Y-axis option menu by clicking them. Where it says ‘Title’, type in what you want to appear on the axis menu. For example, Unaided Awareness or Prompted Awareness.

Edit the data labels

Click on Data Labels to enlarge the menu. Selecting the checkbox for Show data markers will show the values for each bubble.

You can also choose to align this horizontally to the left, center or right and vertically at the top, middle or bottom.

Or, you can edit the font, size and color of the data labels by selecting the text icon.

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