15.4.3 Bar Chart

The subcommand BAR produces a bar chart. This subcommand requires that a count-function be specified (with no arguments) or a summary-function with a variable var1 in parentheses. Following the summary or count function, the keyword BY should be specified and then a catagorical variable, var2. The values of the variable var2 determine the labels of the bars to be plotted. Optionally a second categorical variable var3 may be specified in which case a clustered (grouped) bar chart is produced.

Valid count functions are

COUNT

The weighted counts of the cases in each category.

PCT

The weighted counts of the cases in each category expressed as a percentage of the total weights of the cases.

CUFREQ

The cumulative weighted counts of the cases in each category.

CUPCT

The cumulative weighted counts of the cases in each category expressed as a percentage of the total weights of the cases.

The summary function is applied to var1 across all cases in each category. The recognised summary functions are:

SUM

The sum.

MEAN

The arithmetic mean.

MAXIMUM

The maximum value.

MINIMUM

The minimum value.

The following examples assume a dataset which is the results of a survey. Each respondent has indicated annual income, their sex and city of residence. One could create a bar chart showing how the mean income varies between of residents of different cities, thus:

GRAPH  /BAR  = MEAN(income) BY city.

This can be extended to also indicate how income in each city differs between the sexes.

GRAPH  /BAR  = MEAN(income) BY city BY sex.

One might also want to see how many respondents there are from each city. This can be achieved as follows:

GRAPH  /BAR  = COUNT BY city.

Bar charts can also be produced using the FREQUENCIES and CROSSTABS commands.