Icon Plots - Advanced Tab

Graphical Analytic Techniques

Select the Advanced this tab of the Icon Plots dialog to specify standardization options to use in the plots, as well as to mark selected icons.

Variables. Click the Variables button to display the standard variable selection dialog, in which you can select the variable(s) for the graph. The selection that you make will then be displayed in the area of the dialog below the Variables button.

Graph Type. Select the type of icon plot from the Graph Type list on this tab. Click the desired icon plot link below for a brief description of that type of graph.

Standardize. You can control the standardization of the values of variables selected for the icon plot with the options in this group box.

Off. If you select this option button, then the raw data values will be used to create the icon plots.

Variables. Select this option button to standardize the values of the variables across cases.

Cases. Select this option button to standardize the values of the variables within each icon.

Twice. This option involves one regular standardization (i.e., across cases) followed by a standardization within each case (icon).

Except for unusual cases when you intend the icons to reflect the global differences in ranges of values between the selected variables, the values of the variables should be standardized once to assure the within-icon compatibility of value ranges. For example, because the largest value sets the global scaling reference point for the icons, then if there are variables that are in a range of much smaller order, they may not appear in the icon at all, e.g., in a star plot, the rays that represent them will be too short to be visible.

Mark Selected Icons. Click this button to display the Specify Multiple Subsets dialog, in which you can specify the cases whose icons will be marked (i.e., frames will be placed around the selected icons) in the plot. The line patterns of frames which identify specific subsets will be listed in the legend next to the text of the respective case selection conditions (as defined in the Specify Multiple Subsets dialog).