Scatter diagram is used in many different industries and fields to find the impact relationship between factors. You can easily draw this diagram in Excel with simple steps. Follow Viindoo's article to know more about this type of diagram.
What is a scatter diagram?
Scatter diagram is a type of graph that shows the correlation relationship between two variables according to mathematical coordinates. In scatter diagram, the vertical axis Oy is the values of the predicted variable (the dependent variable) and the horizontal axis Ox is the value of the variable used to make the prediction (the independent variable).
In terms of uses, scatter diagrams are often used when you want to know the relationship between two variables according to a cause-effect relationship. By plotting the correlation graph, you can see the dependent variable's results against the independent variable's datums. For example, the diagram shows the relationship between the use of management software and the company's work performance.
Scatter diagram is one of the 7 quality management tools, besides other kinds of graph such as cause-and-effect diagrams, Pareto charts, etc.
Scatter Diagram represents the relationship between two variables
>>>> Learn More: What is a Pareto chart? Meaning and how to draw a Pareto chart.
Pros and cons of Scatter Diagram
Advantages
Scatter Diagrams have the following advantages:
- Easy to use
- Clearly show the correlation between variables and data trends
- Can represent all data from small to large and even outliers
- Can be used in many industries with different data types
This diagram is very easy to draw and represents all kinds of data
>>>> Read More: 7 quality management principles in ISO 9001:2015
Disadvantages
Besides the advantages, the Scatter Diagram also has some disadvantages as follows:
- Judgment is subjective when only based on the diagram
- Correlation coefficients between variables are difficult to give accurate results
- Variables that need to meet the condition are continuous
- Only 2 variables can be represented on a graph
One of the disadvantages of this graph is that it requires the variables to be continuous
Steps to draw a scatter plot
To draw a scatter plot, you just need to follow these 4 steps:
- Step 1: Collect data pairs of variables. The number of pairs of variables must be more than 30
- Step 2: Plot the graph, the vertical axis is a variable, the horizontal axis is the result of that variable or a second variable
- Step 3: Represent the points on the graph with points showing the correlation between two variables. If the points overlap, use different symbols to distinguish them.
- Step 4: Evaluate the relationship between two variables according to the correlation coefficient
- If the correlation coefficient is positive, then the correlation is positive. Therefore, an increase in one variable (the independent variable) will lead to an increase in the other variable (the dependent variable).
- If the correlation coefficient is negative, then the correlation is negative. The increase in one variable (the independent variable) will lead to a decrease in the result of the other (the dependent variable).
- If the correlation coefficient is 0, then there is no correlation between the two variables.
Types of Scatter Diagrams in Excel
In Excel there are several other types of scatter diagrams besides the regular scatter plot represented by dots. Some other diagrams on Excel are:
- Scatter with Smooth Lines and Markers
- Scatter with Smooth Lines
- Scatter with Straight Lines and Markers
- Scatter with Straight Lines
Dots and lines are common diagram types
The article has provided some information related to scatter diagram and instructions on how to draw this diagram. If readers are interested in content related to diagrams and how to apply it easily, please follow Viindoo's next articles:
