Bead graphs are an alternative to bar graphs and are great for visualizing lots of data. Plot each metric along a different scale, or they can all share the same scale. Connecting the beads vertically produces a vertical line graph. Bead graphs are designed for on-screen viewing and can be exported as tables in PowerPoint.
Bead graphs are only available to view on screen. Use these in online stories and dashboards.
In this article
1. Bead Graph
A bead graph (also known as a Cleveland dot chart) looks somewhat like a horizontal bar chart where dots replace the bars.
- Each dot (or bead) plots a value.
- The line shows the range or scale, for example, from 0 to 100%.
- A bead graph displays separate horizontal lines for each category or variable, and the range (min and max) of each line can be different, or you can select a common scale.
- Only one calculation type is displayed at a time in a bead graph.
Like a horizontal bar chart, the labels are easy to read, and the main benefit of the bead graph becomes clear when comparing multiple values across several categories. They are particularly useful when your categories have relatively long labels and you have several values spread across a range within each category. They can highlight clustering and gaps and show outliers. Bead charts reduce clutter and let you focus on individual values.
Bead graphs are only available to view on screen. If you export to PowerPoint the data exports as a table.
- Create your analysis
- Click the Visualize menu and Harmoni defaults to a Bar Graph
- Select the Bead Graph
2. Customization Settings
Using the drop-down arrow beside the bead graph icon, you can access additional settings to control the horizontal scale, draw connecting vertical lines and show or hide the individual horizontal scales.
Horizontal Scale
Variable Scale
Common Scale
To change to a common scale across all the metrics:
- Click the drop down menu below the bead graph icon.
- Select the padlock icon next to the Max and Min values.
- Harmoni automatically includes the maximum or minimum values based on the scales in your analysis.
- Manually change the values if required.
Using a common scale, all the metrics can be compared on a single scale, similar to a horizontal stacked bar graph.
Data Updates with a Common Scale
If you set a common scale in the bead graph and save the analysis to a Story, any new variables added to the project that fall outside of the fixed range will not appear in the chart. If you know the range may change, we recommend to set the min and max at the full range of the scale, e.g., from 0% to 100%.
Default Common Scale
If you know that you only want to use a common scale in all bead graphs you visualize, and you do not want to see the variable scale, the common scale can be permanently set. Please contact support@infotools.com to setup a default common auto-scale.
You can identify whether your Bead graph has a permanently set, common scale as the scale values only appear on the last variable at the base of the graph.
Connect Beads Vertically
The Connect Beads Vertically option is available once you have changed to a common scale by setting the Min and Max values. If you have a variable scale, the Connect Beads Vertically option is greyed out.
Once you have set a common scale, click the check box beside Connect Beads Vertically to draw a line vertically between the same metric. This is useful when you want to emphasize differences in values across groups. For example, the level of customer service satisfaction across different markets.
The Connect Beads Vertically option is only available after you set a common scale across all variables.
Show/Hide Grid Lines
The default setting displays the horizontal grid lines. You can uncheck the box to hide the grid lines. Hiding the grid lines can help unclutter the display when connecting the beads vertically.