fasadjournal.blogg.se - Format individual error bars excel

These could be measurement variables, or they could be nominal variables summarized as percentages.

Use a scatter graph (also known as an \(X-Y\) graph) for graphing data sets consisting of pairs of numbers. But by far the most common graphs in scientific publications are scatter graphs and bar graphs, so that's all that I'll talk about here. There are many kinds of graphs-bubble graphs, pie graphs, doughnut graphs, radar graphs-and each may be the best for some kinds of data. And don't use both red and green bars or symbols on the same graph from \(5\%\) to \(10\%\) of the men in your audience (and less than \(1\%\) of the women) have red-green colorblindness and can't distinguish red from green. But don't use red type on a blue background (or vice-versa), as the eye has a hard time focusing on both colors at once and it creates a distracting \(3-D\) effect. It's pretty, and it makes it easier to distinguish different categories of bars or symbols.

Do use color in graphs for presentations.

There are enough different symbols that you shouldn't need to use colors. Don't use different shades of gray, they may be hard to distinguish in photocopies. For bars, use solid black, empty, gray, cross-hatching, vertical stripes, horizontal stripes, etc. If the caption of a graph says "Red bars are mean HDL levels for patients taking 2000 mg niacin/day, while blue bars are patients taking the placebo," some of your readers will just see gray bars and will be confused and angry. If your paper is a success, many people will be reading photocopies or will print it on a black-and-white printer.

Don't use color in graphs for publication.

If the graph has "error bars," you should say in the caption whether they're \(95\%\) confidence interval, standard error, standard deviation, comparison interval, or something else. You should identify symbols and patterns in a legend on the graph, or in the caption.

Clearly label both axes of your graph, including measurement units if appropriate. all distract from the message of your graph. Grid lines, background patterns, \(3-D\) effects, unnecessary legends, excessive tick marks, etc.

Don't clutter up your graph with unnecessary junk.