SPSSX Discussion

3-D column chart

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Bob Schacht-3

3-D column chart

I tried posting this question on Feb. 22, but have not seen it posted or
answered, so I'm trying again.

Microsoft Excel has a chart type called 3-D Column. I have an unusual joint
distribution of two likert scale variables that is tri-modal: biggest
values are on 3 of the corners (i.e., most extreme values), and everything
between those 3 modes is small potatoes. The Excel 3-D column chart shows
this better than any of the other chart types, but control over the marking
of values on the scale is poor.

I'm using SPSS ver. 12. Can it show 3-D column charts like this? So far, I
have not been able to find anything that looks like it.

Thanks,
Bob

Robert M. Schacht, Ph.D. <[hidden email]>
Pacific Basin Rehabilitation Research & Training Center
1268 Young Street, Suite #204
Research Center, University of Hawaii
Honolulu, HI 96814

Beadle, ViAnn

Re: 3-D column chart

A 3-D column chart looks just like a 3-D bar chart which is available in SPSS. I think IGRAPH has supported 3-D coordinates since release 8 but I would recommend GGRAPH or GRAPH in a more recent version than 12 over IGRAPH.

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Bob Schacht
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 2:44 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: 3-D column chart

I tried posting this question on Feb. 22, but have not seen it posted or
answered, so I'm trying again.

Microsoft Excel has a chart type called 3-D Column. I have an unusual joint
distribution of two likert scale variables that is tri-modal: biggest
values are on 3 of the corners (i.e., most extreme values), and everything
between those 3 modes is small potatoes. The Excel 3-D column chart shows
this better than any of the other chart types, but control over the marking
of values on the scale is poor.

I'm using SPSS ver. 12. Can it show 3-D column charts like this? So far, I
have not been able to find anything that looks like it.

Thanks,
Bob

Robert M. Schacht, Ph.D. <[hidden email]>
Pacific Basin Rehabilitation Research & Training Center
1268 Young Street, Suite #204
Research Center, University of Hawaii
Honolulu, HI 96814

Bob Schacht-3

Re: 3-D column charts

At 11:21 AM 2/26/2007, Beadle, ViAnn wrote:
>A 3-D column chart looks just like a 3-D bar chart which is available in
>SPSS. I think IGRAPH has supported 3-D coordinates since release 8 but I
>would recommend GGRAPH or GRAPH in a more recent version than 12 over IGRAPH.

Thank you for your response. I could not find a way to do what you say
through the menu system in Ver. 12, so I am trying to do it through syntax,
and I've got mostly what I want. Here's what I have so far:

IGRAPH
/Y=$count
TITLE='Count'
/X1= VAR(A3) TYPE = SCALE
TITLE='I liked what I was doing when my case was closed'
/X2=VAR(B5) TYPE=SCALE
TITLE='My final outcome was successful'
/X1LENGTH=3.0 /YLENGTH=3.0 /X2LENGTH=3.0
/COORDINATE=THREE
/BAR .

There are a couple of things I'd like to fix up.
(1) One of my titles is too long. Is there a way to break the title into
two lines? I thought I read somewhere about how to do that, but I can't
remember the key words.

(2) Can I change the color used for the bars? Right now it is bright red.

(3) Can I have a grid drawn on the base of the 3-D box? There are 5 values
for each variable, and I'd like to see the columns stacked on a 5x5 grid.

(4) The columns look like they are made, in effect, of thin rectangular
blocks, one block for each case. In some of the taller columns (but not all
of them), some of these blocks look offset a little. Sometimes its the
whole top of the block that is offset, other times its just one block. What
is causing this offset appearance, and is there some way to prevent that
visual effect?

Any help appreciated.

Bob Schacht

>-----Original Message-----
>From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
>Bob Schacht
>Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 2:44 PM
>To: [hidden email]
>Subject: 3-D column chart
>
>I tried posting this question on Feb. 22, but have not seen it posted or
>answered, so I'm trying again.
>
>Microsoft Excel has a chart type called 3-D Column. I have an unusual joint
>distribution of two likert scale variables that is tri-modal: biggest
>values are on 3 of the corners (i.e., most extreme values), and everything
>between those 3 modes is small potatoes. The Excel 3-D column chart shows
>this better than any of the other chart types, but control over the marking
>of values on the scale is poor.
>
>I'm using SPSS ver. 12. Can it show 3-D column charts like this? So far, I
>have not been able to find anything that looks like it.
>
>Thanks,
>Bob
>
>Robert M. Schacht, Ph.D. <[hidden email]>
>Pacific Basin Rehabilitation Research & Training Center
>1268 Young Street, Suite #204
>Research Center, University of Hawaii
>Honolulu, HI 96814

Beadle, ViAnn

Re: 3-D column charts

After you create your chart through syntax, double-click on it to go into the chart editor.
There you can change the color and rotate the coordinates so that your columns don't collide.
You can lay a grid on any one of the three exposed surfaces of the chart. I don't recall off hand whether you can control grids by syntax so check out the syntax to look for something like Grid.

The IGRAPH editor is very rich and you'll probably have to rely upon Help to get where you want to go.
-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Bob Schacht
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 8:34 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: 3-D column charts

At 11:21 AM 2/26/2007, Beadle, ViAnn wrote:
>A 3-D column chart looks just like a 3-D bar chart which is available in
>SPSS. I think IGRAPH has supported 3-D coordinates since release 8 but I
>would recommend GGRAPH or GRAPH in a more recent version than 12 over IGRAPH.

Thank you for your response. I could not find a way to do what you say
through the menu system in Ver. 12, so I am trying to do it through syntax,
and I've got mostly what I want. Here's what I have so far:

IGRAPH
/Y=$count
TITLE='Count'
/X1= VAR(A3) TYPE = SCALE
TITLE='I liked what I was doing when my case was closed'
/X2=VAR(B5) TYPE=SCALE
TITLE='My final outcome was successful'
/X1LENGTH=3.0 /YLENGTH=3.0 /X2LENGTH=3.0
/COORDINATE=THREE
/BAR .

There are a couple of things I'd like to fix up.
(1) One of my titles is too long. Is there a way to break the title into
two lines? I thought I read somewhere about how to do that, but I can't
remember the key words.

(2) Can I change the color used for the bars? Right now it is bright red.

(3) Can I have a grid drawn on the base of the 3-D box? There are 5 values
for each variable, and I'd like to see the columns stacked on a 5x5 grid.

(4) The columns look like they are made, in effect, of thin rectangular
blocks, one block for each case. In some of the taller columns (but not all
of them), some of these blocks look offset a little. Sometimes its the
whole top of the block that is offset, other times its just one block. What
is causing this offset appearance, and is there some way to prevent that
visual effect?

Any help appreciated.

Bob Schacht