Basic comparisons

BHarris

Suppose I have two chemical compounds, c1 and c2, that I'm comparing in a few tests, t1 thru t3, scoring their performance in 3 areas, r1 thru r2.  So my data table looks like this:

 

compound	test	r1	r2
c1	t1	4.6	0.4
c1	t2	7.4	0.33
c1	t3	7.8	0.7
c2	t1	2.9	0.5
c2	t2	5.4	0.48
c2	t3	6.6	0.42

 

Is there a good way to show the performance deltas between the compounds on a test-by-test basis? i.e. to see that compound 2's result 1 is 1.7 units (37%) lower than compound 1's in test 1? I'd love to do it with Graph Builder, if possible, but I'm open to other methods as well.

Dan_Obermiller

Here is one approach that I THINK will make a comparison that you want.

Stack the r1 and r2 columns into a single column which I will call Result. The Stack dialog box looks like this:

Now use Graph Builder. Drag Compound to the x-axis. Drag Result to the Y-axis.

From here, play around to get the look you want. I drug the Test variable outside the x-axis so it is a nesting variable, but has Compound within each test. I then drug Label to the Group X axis.

The downside to this particular graph is that r2 is on a very different scale than r1, so the r2 picture does not look as good. But, perhaps, you want to see the scale difference.

 

So, maybe putting the Label in the Page role would be better. It will give you two separate graphs, but because the r1 and r2 scales are so different, I think that may be preferable. But, play with it and find something you like. I hope this helps and sparks some ideas for you.