Graphing Results in SPSS:
Some Screenshots
1999, 2000
H. Bruce Lammers, Ph.D.
Marketing Research Technology Center
California State University, Northridge


Some preliminary comments on what to graph for any research report.
Creating one bar graph of several means from one variable, e.g., for a significant ANOVA main effect. Graphing percentages (relative frequencies) instead of means, as is often necessary for many demographics, e.g., for a significant Chi Square main effect.  Creating one bar graph of means for a significant ANOVA two-way interaction.

Some preliminary comments on what to graph for ANY research report.

When ANOVA is Significant, your graph should contain BOTH the independent variable and the dependent variable.  Something like this example in Figure 57 would be nice (Figure 57 contains fake data and is for illustration only.)

When the ANOVA is not statistically signficant, a simple descriptive statistics graph containing ONLY the dependent variable is appropriate.  For example, Figure 36 is ok, as well as Figure 72.
(Both Figures contain fake data and are for illustration only.)  Figure 36 shows more than one dependent variable, 3 in this case, which is handy if you have a lot of graphs.  Figure 72 shows a standard simple frequency distribution for only one dependent variable.


When your Chi Square is significant, both the independent variable and the dependent variable should be in the graph.  Figure 28 is an example.
When your Chi Square is not significant, graph only the dependent variable, as illustrated in Figure 782 below.  (Figure 782 contains fake data.)

Creating one bar graph of several means from one variable, e.g., simple main effect means.
Select Bar Graph procedure.
Define bar graph as "simple for groups of cases"
Define the bars and category axis.
Output Graph:  Very rough and needs to be cleaned up a lot.
Output Graph:  Final version...looks rather nice.

Example 2 of bar graph of several means from one variable
Output Graph:  Final version of example 2---rather nice looking graph.

Example 3 of bar graph of several means from one variable
Output Graph:  Final version of example 3---another beauty.


Graphing percentages instead of means, as is often necessary for many demographics, e.g., simple main effect frequencies.
Example of Bar Graph selection in SPSS of relative frequency distribution on a demographic
Select "percent of cases" and the demographic to be graphed.
Bar Chart in Final Form

Another example, but this time with a pie chart.
Select Pie Chart--"groups of cases"
Select "percent of cases" and the demographic to be pie-charted.
Cute Pie Chart in Final Form