« Previous step: Phase 2 Excel analysis
This section of work relies entirely on the quality of the analysis that you performed on your questionnaire data. Simply selecting some unprocessed data such as the Gender data and creating a pie chart is meaningless. I use the term “charts” rather than “graphs” to align with Microsoft product terminology.
In this post:
Required knowledge:
1. The requirements
SPREADSHEET – GRAPHS
The 2020 Grade 12 Marking Rubric
At least TWO graphs that are relevant, meaningful and serve a purpose, are of the correct type and formatted to be easy to interpret (headings, labels, legends, et cetera). The graphs will help to answer questions and contribute to the solution/explain aspects of the problem/solution.
The marking rubric goes on to award marks for:
- At least one relevant, meaningful chart is present, that will contribute to the solution
- A second relevant meaningful chart that will contribute to the solution
- Appropriate types of chart(s) and options used
- Chart(s) is easy to read and interpret
The processed data — the information — that represents synthesized knowledge is what you must aim to chart!
2. Relevant Charts
Many learners create a Chart like the one below left. That Chart does not “contribute to the solution/explain aspects of the problem” and is, in fact, incorrect. The correct Chart is the one on the right.
I explained in the previous step, Phase 2 Excel analysis, why the Chart on the left is meaningless/incorrect.
3. Appropriate Charts
You must look carefully at the data that you wish to chart: not all charts will be appropriate (or even work) for all datasets.
See the following posts for more examples:
- Excel Stacked Column Chart
- Excel Sunburst Chart
- Excel Treemap Chart
- Excel chart with a second data series
Next step: Access Database »