Step 8, format! Add an explanatory title and a legend-like subtitle to convey what standard deviation actually means. Then change the chart type and select a line.
Step 6, click on that new area representing your means so that it is highlighted. You don’t want it to look like that, but don’t freak out. First, right-click on the graph, click on Select Data, and add your mean values as a new series.
So highlight the values in the lower range and the full range, click the stacked area graph, and get this:Īs my notes suggest, change the default colors of the stacked areas so that the lower range is no fill or white and the actual standard deviation range is gray. We want to create a stacked area chart, using this guy: Step 3, the difference between the upper range and the lower range is the full standard deviation range, so calculate that by subtracting the lower range from the upper range. And subtract the standard deviation from each mean to get the lower end of the standard deviation range. Step 2, add the standard deviation to the mean to calculate the upper end of the standard deviation range. Step 1, we calculate means and standard deviations for each of the 5 years we are reporting on. In this example, we are visualizing mean reading scores for schools across the state.
Sounds complicated, I know, but it’s actually pretty simple and these are the step-by-step instructions. It represents the standard deviation via a gray band behind the mean scores, using a stacked area chart. Tuck that ish in an appendix or something.īut in the rare circumstance where your audience really does want to see your standard deviations, here’s a pretty easy way to visualize them in your graph inside Excel. But most likely they do not want you to actually tell them the standard deviation. They want to know you were meticulous in your number crunching. Click on the Chart Elements button next to the chart represented by a. Select your chart by clicking on it once. If you don’t have one yet, start a new spreadsheet and input your data, then create your desired chart before proceeding. Open the spreadsheet containing your data and chart. They want to know you calculated your standard deviations. Jump to Add a Standard Deviation bar in Excel 2007-2010. Do you need to communicate your standard deviations to your audience? No, I mean, really DO YOU? Think hard about that because chances are your audience doesn’t give a crap.