Just Plain Data Analysis: Companion Website
 Gary Klass
Department of Politics and Government
Illinois State University

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Excel Charting Tips: Pie Charts
2003 vs 2007 Pie charts Cone, radar,.. Bar charts Time series charts Boxplots Getting help

Chart tip #1: Excel 2007 vs. Excel 2003
 Chart tip #2: Pie Chart tips
Chart tip #3: When to use Cone, Radar, and Pyramid Charts
Chart tip #4: Bar Chart Tips
Chart tip #5: Times Series Charts
Chart tip #6: Scatterplots
Chart tip #7: Boxplots
Chart tip #8: Where to go for more help
Chart tip #9: Printing and copying charts
Chart tip #10: Downloading different data formats

Pie Charts Tips:

Rules for pie charts:

  1. Avoid using pie charts.
  2. Use pie charts only for data that add up to some meaningful total.
  3. Never ever use three-dimensional pie charts; they are even worse than two-dimensional pies. 
  4. Avoid forcing comparisons across more than one pie chart.

Side by Side Pie Charts

For those who not only insist on using pie charts (note rule #1 above) but who think they can make meaningful comparisons across two different pie charts (note rule #4, above) will discover the difficulty of drawing two equally sized excel charts.

Figure 3.6: Comparing Two Pie Charts (excel file)
Steps:
  1. Create the first pie chart
    [note: you don't have to use a pie chart and if you use a bar chart you can easily use two data series in a single bar chart].
  2. Place the chart as an object in a worksheet (do not create separate chart worksheets).
  3. Format the chart
  4. Keeping all of the row columns equally spaced, snap the corners of the chart area to the desired cell borders by holding down the ALT key as you use the mouse to drag the chart area corners.
  5. Once you have done all the formatting, save the chart template.
    (in Excel 007, select: Design | Save as template)
  6. Create the second pie chart,
  7. Change the Chart Type, choosing the template as the chart type.
    (in Excel 007, select: Design | Change chart type | Templates)
  8. repeat step 4, above
  9. Place the spanning title in the cells above the two charts.
  10. Select all the columns with the mouse to assure that the columns widths are equal
  11. Hide the gridlines
    (in Excel 007, select View | Show\Hide | uncheck gridlines)

The Worst: (note this violates rule #2, above)
 


Reported by Joel Best.
For more on numeracy, go to www.StatLit.org/Numeracy1.htm

 

 

Note: If you are not using the newest version of Excel, to access the
MS 2007 Excel files for the figures (not the tables) in the
above chapters, download the 2003\2007 Office Compatibility pack

 

 

02/02/2009

 

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