3.11.1. Diagrams for a single variable using SPSS

With SPSS for some diagrams there are different options to generate the same output. The two most commonly ones are by using the Chart Builder, or the older Legacy dialogs (both under the Graphs menu). Some diagrams can also be made using the Frequencies option (the same as used for the tables), some the Explore option, and some by using an already generated frequency table or other diagram.

Table 1
*Diagrams options in SPSS*
	Chart builder	Legacy dialogs	Frequencies	existing table	Explore	Other
Pie chart	pdf - video	pdf - video	pdf - video	pdf - video	n.a.
Dot plot	pdf - video	pdf - video	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Cleveland dot plot	pdf - video	n.a.	n.a.	pdf - video	n.a.
Bar chart	pdf - video	pdf - video	pdf - video	pdf - video	n.a.
Histogram	pdf - video	pdf - video	pdf - video	n.a.	pdf - video
Stem-and-Leaf plot	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	pdf - video
Frequency Polygon (nominal or ordinal)	pdf - video	pdf - video	n.a.	pdf - video	n.a.	convert bar chart (pdf - video)
Frequency Polygon (scale)	pdf - video	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	convert histogram (pdf - video)
Ogive (nominal or ordinal)	pdf - video	pdf - video	n.a.	pdf - video	n.a.
Ogive (scale)	pdf - video	pdf - video	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Pareto diagram	pdf - video	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.

Unfortunately I'm not aware of any method to generate Pictogram with SPSS. Perhaps this is possible using the programming language (syntax) from SPSS, but in the graphical user interface I have not come across any way to show any of these.

SPSS also has something known as the graphboard template chooser, but I found this to be very limited.

Note that the Chart Builder has almost all of the diagrams (except the Stem-and-Leaf plot). It is therefor also my usual method of creating a chart with SPSS, unless I want to create diagrams of multiple variables (one by one), in which case this can be done a lot quicker with the Frequencies or the Explore option.

Below is an overview of all the different options in SPSS for single variables.

Tables with SPSS overview
Type	Method	Example output
Pie chart	Chart builder: pdf - video Legacy dialogs: pdf - video Frequencies: pdf - video From a frequency table: pdf - video
Dot plot	Chart builder: pdf - video Legacy dialogs: pdf - video
Cleveland dot	Chart builder: pdf - video From a frequency table: pdf - video
Bar chart	Chart builder: pdf - video Legacy dialogs: pdf - video Frequencies: pdf - video (note: no option to show cumulative or cumulative relative frequencies) From a frequency table: pdf - video (note: no option to show cumulative frequencies)
Histogram	Chart builder: pdf - video Legacy dialogs: pdf - video Frequencies: pdf - video Explore: pdf - video
Stem-and-Leaf plot	Explore: pdf - video
Frequency polygon (for nominal or ordinal variables)	Chart builder: pdf - video Legacy dialogs: pdf - video From a frequency table: pdf - video Convert Bar chart: pdf - video
Frequency polygon (for scale)	Chart builder: pdf - video Convert Histogram: pdf - video
Ogive (for ordinal (or nominal))	Chart builder: pdf - video Legacy dialogs: pdf - video From a table: pdf - video
Ogive (for scale)	Chart builder: pdf - video Legacy dialogs: pdf - video
Pareto diagram	Chart builder: pdf - video