Survey Results Graphs and Charts

In creating a visual representation of your survey results there are a few options to consider so be sure to choose the format that will best illustrates your findings.

A survey results pie chart is best for seeing how something is divided among different groups Pie charts show categories of data in proportion to the whole data set. The entire pie acts as the visual representation of the compiled data and each slice represents a different category within. When analyzing pie chart data look for the largest piece to find the most common category and be sure to pay attention to the relative sizes of pieces; some categories may be unexpectedly similar or different in size.

For a pie chart, the following statistics are calculated:

• Mean: The average of all the data points in the series
• Maximum: The maximum value (biggest slice) in the series
• Minimum: The minimum value (smallest slice) in the series
• Sample Size: The number of values (slices) in the series
• Range: The maximum value minus the minimum value
• Standard Deviation: Indicates how widely data is spread around the mean

A survey results bar graph makes for easy comparisons. Like pie charts, bar graphs are useful for comparing categories of data where you can have a single category of data or you can beak down the data further into multiple categories for greater depth of analysis.

For each bar in the bar graph, the following statistics are useful:

• Mean: The average height of all the bars
• Maximum: The maximum value (tallest bar) in the series
• Minimum: The minimum value (shortest bar) in the series
• Sample Size: The number of values (bars) in the series
• Range: The maximum value minus the minimum value
• Standard Deviation: Indicates how widely data is spread around the mean