FAQ/linebar07 - CBU statistics Wiki

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Putting error bars on line graphs using EXCEL 2007

(This a bit more convoluted than in earlier versions of EXCEL but uses exactly the same strategy)

  1. Click on INSERT on menu bar and select LINE in the CHARTS section at the top of the spreadsheet

  2. Choose LINE WITH MARKERS (leftmost chart on 2nd row from the top).

  3. A graph should appear. Drag the graph away from the spreadsheet data so you can clearly see both the graph and data in the spreadsheet.
  4. Click on any marker (data point) shown in the graph.

  5. In the DATA section at the top of the spreadsheet click SELECT DATA.

  6. In the left window labelled Legend Entries (Series) click ADD.

  7. In the SERIES NAME box type in Males; Delete all contents in the Series Values box directly beneath and click the spreadsheet icon immediately to the right of the Series Values box.

  8. Highlight cells A2 to A4 in the column representing the means (these should appear in the Series Values box). Click OK.

  9. Highlight ‘width’ in the Legend Entries (Series) box and click EDIT.

  10. Repeat steps 7 and 8 above typing Females into the SERIES NAME box. Delete all contents in the SERIES VALUES box directly beneath and click the spreadsheet icon immediately to the right of the SERIES VALUES box.

  11. Highlight cells A5 to A7 in the column representing the means (these should appear in the SERIES VALUES box). Click OK.

  12. Highlight ‘mean’ in the LEGEND ENTRIES (SERIES) and click REMOVE.

  13. Now highlight Males in the LEGEND ENTRIES (SERIES) and go to the HORIZONTAL (CATEGORY) AXES LABELS box and Click EDIT.

  14. Delete any contents In the AXES LABEL RANGE box, and insert {“NE”,”SE”,”W”} and click OK.

  15. Now doubleclick on a marker representing males in the graph and choose LAYOUT in the top spreadsheet menu and in the ANALYSIS section click ERROR BARS>MORE ERROR BARS OPTIONS and choose CUSTOM and click SPECIFY VALUE.

  16. Click on the spreadsheet adjacent to the box under POSITIVE ERROR VALUE and highlight cells B2 to B4 in the width (standard error) column. The co-ordinates of the standard error row should appear in the POSITIVE ERROR VALUE box. Repeat for the NEGATIVE ERROR VALUE box again highlighting cells B2 to B4. Click OK and CLOSE.

  17. Repeat steps 15 and 16 for females by clicking on a marker representing females and placing cells B5 to B7 in the POSITIVE ERROR VALUE and NEGATIVE ERROR VALUE boxes.

  18. Click OK and CLOSE. You should now have a bar chart with error bars. Doubleclicking on the error bars and clicking the PATTERNS tab in the FORMAT ERROR BARS window allows the user to change the style, colour or thickness of the lines forming the error bars.