Knowledge Base

Customize the Group Charts

How to Access These Options

Do one of the following:

• Double-click the chart.
• Right-click the chart and select Chart Properties.
• Click the Edit Chart Properties button (if there are more charts in the same tab, the first one is selected by default; to customize another one, first click the chart you want to edit).

Tip: To apply the same properties to all charts in the same tab, make the changes in one chart and then click Apply to All.

Tip: If you want to make a Box and Whiskers chart, you must first specify 5 Number Summary as a group statistic for the variable of interest. You can do this in two ways: (1) in the Analysis profile, open the variable settings window and locate the Group Statistics tab; or (2) in the statistics result table, right-click the variable name and choose Properties, then locate the Group Statistics tab.

Change Chart Type, Size and Title

Click Chart in the Chart Properties window.

• Chart Type. Choose between Bars, Lines, Box and Whiskers, and Box, Whiskers and Data Points. By default, a Bars chart is created. However, if you define time bins, a line chart is created; if you specify 5-number summary in Group Statistics, a box and whiskers chart is created. Select a different type from the list when applicable. Choose Box, Whiskers and Data Points if you also want to plot the data points that generated the charts. Note that each dot represents the value of a variable calculated for a specific trial.
• Chart Width. Move the slider or click the arrow buttons to select the required width (range 50–500). To change the width of a chart, you can also drag the vertical line at the right of the chart. To change the height of the chart, drag the upper margin of the chart window.
• Display Chart Title. Enter the title you require. The default is [name of dependent variable] – [name of statistic].

Arrange the Data in the Chart

Click Data Selection in the Chart Properties window.

• Specifiers. These are elements that can create independent data series. What you see under Specifiers depends on the variable you want to analyze. They can be single body points (e.g. center-point for the variable Distance Moved), subjects, variable states (e.g. Mobile, Immobile and Highly Mobile for Mobility), manually-scored behaviors (Grooming and Not Grooming for the behavior Grooming), or combinations of elements, for example Proximity of Nose point to another subject's center-point. Select the specifier that you require.
• Data Series. Choose the categories that you want to appear in the legend. If you select Specifiers, for each category on the horizontal axis you get as many data series as the specifiers selected. Note that if you only have one item in the Specifiers box, Specifiers is not in this list.
  • Example 1: You have the two subjects Control and Treated and selected Relative Movement in the Analysis profile, and selected the body point Nose point for the actor and Tail base for the receiver. The Specifiers of the chart for Relative Movement are Moving To / Nose Point / Control – Tail Base; Moving From / Nose Point / Control – Tail Base; No Movement / Nose Point / Control – Tail Base; etc.
  • Example 2: You track the center-point of one animal, specified the zones Center and Border, and selected the dependent variable In Zone in the Analysis profile. The Specifiers of the chart for In Zone are Border / Center-point and Center / Center-point.
• If you select Results, you get as many data series as the combinations [Result containers] × [Specifiers].
• If you select Results/Zones, you get as many series as the combinations [Result containers] × [Zones selected in Results per Zone in the Data profile] × [Specifiers].
• If you select Zones, you get as many series as combinations [Zones selected in Results per Zone in the Data profile] × [Specifiers].
• If you select an independent variable, you get as many data series as combinations [independent variable values] × [Specifiers].

Important: A category or independent variable is listed only when it identifies each group uniquely. For example, if tracks in a group (selection in the Result container of your Data Profile) have two or more different values of Treatment level, this variable is not shown in the list. In this case, the Group Statistics table shows [multiple values] in the header.

• Horizontal Axis. Select what you want to have as the categories on the horizontal axis.
  • Results: to have the groups defined in your Data Profile as the categories.
  • [Independent variable name]: to have for example treatment levels or dosage values as the categories (but see the note above).
  • Zones, or Results/Zones, when applicable.
  • Time Bins is selected by default when you defined time bins in your Data Profile.

Tip: To combine two independent variables, choose one as Data Series and the other as Horizontal Axis.

Show the Error Bars

Click Data selection in the Chart Properties window. Select Show error bars when you want to plot the standard deviation/standard error as error bars.

The option is only available when the statistic is selected under Group Statistics for that dependent variable. To add the statistic, right-click the header of the dependent variable in the Group Statistics and Charts tab and click Properties. Click Group Statistics and select the statistic you require.

Sort the Elements of a Chart

1. In the Chart Properties window, click Data sort order.
2. Here you can change the sort order of the categories for both horizontal axis and data series. Choose Alphabetical (Ascending or Descending) or Manual (click a category and then click the arrow buttons to move it up or down).