Also, it’s worth checking out the following:

http://www.mrexcel.com/podcast/2009/06/multiple-scatter-1038-learn-excel-from.html
http://www.mrexcel.com/podcast/2009/06/multiple-xy-series-1031-learn-excel.html
http://www.mrexcel.com/podcast/2009/06/multiple-xy-ii-1032-learn-excel-from.html

Failing that, just search Youtube and you’ll find lots of examples.

Good luck

I wanted to create a chart similar to this one, showing assets and net sales of clients of ours.

My problem is, that I can not figure out how to do it. I searched everywhere until I luckily found this perfect example.

Can this be done in Excel and if so, how? Is it a scatterplot or something else?

Just so that my position is clear, in the second comment I have said “@Dick: I wouldnt have drawn the trend line as it is not a very strong trend.”

If I were making this chart, I wouldnt have drawn the trend line but left the data where it is and let the reader choose what to read.

I agree that much confusion came because of the type (and nature) of the data.

@Jeff: I am 100% with you that,
> Charts are however often the best way to illustrate more simple stories, such as told in business settings.
> Most people who read charts are not aware of these subtleties. If you place the line somewhere on the chart, you’re telling these people that ‘these things are correlated, and here’s how’.

It is our responsibility to make charts that tell the correct story.

Believe me, when I looked at that chart, I didnt even notice the trend line. I looked at the dots because they matter most. And I thought, well, this is one neatly done chart. I read the times article, found that the author is curious to explore the relationship and found the chart fitting in that story perfectly.

For me the story wasnt “obese people eat less time”, for me it was,

“Why the countries like US are spending less time eating?, Why Turkey is on the extreme? How the average eating times are in the countries that I know”

And these are the very same things I was referring to in my post. I never said the story is “obese people eat less time”. I assumed that no one would reach such conclusion as it is absurd.

May be should have spelled out “what the story is”, instead of just saying there is a story.

I really like how this discussion is shaping up. I appreciate the fact that you are willing to challenge me and make me a better person.

@Mark: I am very sorry for the misunderstanding. As I said above I wasnt really referring to the “obese people eat less time” story.

And the intention is never to get more comments. But the intention is to have a conversation and share ideas.

I thought, most of us, when we see a bunch of numbers (like annual sales figures, customer footfalls etc.), we automatically create a chart and paste it in the ppt / report. I wanted to challenge that behavior by saying “your charts should tell a story”. They should

> combine data in ways that is difficult if you were to deal with raw numbers
> bring forward interesting patterns
> justify / challenge what people already believe
> and be fun

and I thought this above chart is a good example. But the trend line kind of played the spoil sport. But as I said, I neither would have constructed it myself, nor would have used it as a story.

It is my mistake that this message didnt come out properly.

I really appreciate the fact that you took time to make me a better person. I love the way this discussion is happening.

The way a laymen would look at this – “if I spent less time eating, the fatter I will be.”

The way an expert would look at this – “the author just took 2 unrelated (yet no doubt, interesting) data points and combined them to make a chart. He then went a step further in explicitly trying to establish a correlation where there’s actually none. And well….Chadoo picks it up and says “Here is a fantastic example of what a good chart is”

What’s next – a chart between per capita income and color of the national flag

As chart makers, we have a duty of care to ensure that when we choose to use a chart, we bear these distinctions in mind.

A chart is often NOT the best way to tell or illustrate a very complicated story, such as told in social policy settintgs. This chart is a very poor way of illustrating the ’story’ of the causes behind obesity, because the truth behind the causes of obesity is very, very complicated.

Charts are however often the best way to illustrate more simple stories, such as told in business settings.

I’m not saying charts should only be used in business settings. I’m saying that charts are best used when the models we’re trying to described are not too complicated.

You said the chart challenges conventional wisdom by ‘providing some facts on inverse correlation of eating time with obesity’ as if there IS a proven inverse correlation Are you saying there IS an inverse correlation, and here’s a chart that illustrates it?. Or are you saying “this data appears to show a correlation between eating time with obesity”? Or are you saying something else?

You also say “As you can clearly see, it is poorly correlated with the eating times (but still correlated, and may be the hypothesis that this is due to random error cannot be rejected)” .

To my eyes, it doesn’t say these things are poorly correlated. I think it says these things are probably NOT correlated under our simple hypothesis that:
% of popn with BMI>30 = X times minutes spent eating per day + natural variation

This chart does NOT give enough information to prove there is a statistically significant correlation between these factors. Even if there appeared to be a strong correlation, this would only exist IF you had described your model correctly so that it captured all the pertinet factors (i.e any other factors not in the model are left out because they are immaterial to the impact that time spent eating has on BMI)

Any correlation we can infer from a line on a chart is only correct IF the model described by the chart is correct. No chart tells us whether we should have used the data as is, or graphed the log of one or the other series, or whether we should have used a linear trend line or a polynomial one. We have to use logic to construct the model, then use a regression to test the hypothesis whether our model is correctly described or not.

Most people who read charts are not aware of these subtleties. If you place the line somewhere on the chart, you’re telling these peopre that ‘these things are correlated, and here’s how’. Place the line somewhere else, and you’re telling a slightly different ( or perhaps completely different) story. Omit the line and you’re telling yet another story …one that says ‘I don’t think these 2 things have ANY correlation.

Use a linear trendline, and get one truth. Use a polynomial trendline and get another truth. Omit one variable and choosle another, and get another truth. When it comes to 2 dimensional charts, truth (or an awareness of a lack of truth) lies in the eye of the beholder, which is strongly influenced by the decisions of the chart creator.

I believe that because of the choice to use a trendline in this particular chart, and because of the choice of what kind of trendline to use, then the chart IS in fact chart opening up the “People who spend less time eating are overweight!” story, as Matt says above.

@Jeff: You have a very good point that stories should be used carefully since attention is scarce. I particularly liked and shared this chart because it manages to raise the curiosity, connects with reader (read Dick’s comments below about ego charts) and in some way challenges conventional wisdom (by providing some facts on inverse correlation of eating time with obesity, it is common to think that people spending a lot of time eating are obese)
Just look at the amount of conversation this post alone generated just because the chart is featured. No body seemed to disagree with the point that “a good chart should tell a story”, but everyone is talking about “whether this chart is right / correct”. To be honest, not many charts even come closer to this discussion just because they are poor stories.

@Dick: You are bang on with the ego charts. I use this technique often to connect to my audience. , After all, we all are story tellers.