Forum Discussion
Recommended visuals for show Distributions and Standard Deviations?
EDIT 11/10/21: Please note that I say some factually incorrect information in the below post. I am new to Power BI and the solution provider was kind enough to educate me on my misunderstandings. I honestly recommend just scrolling down straight to the solution and looking at their .pbix file. It helped me and might help you if you, like me, were struggling to find a scatter plot or other visual with a dynamic standard deviation line.
What are recommended visuals for show Distributions, means, medians and Standard Deviations? I notice that one of my stakeholders very much likes to look at standard deviations, specifically to see what items are within two standard deviations, what items are outside of two standard deviations, etc.
I am aware of the below options for showing distributions:
- Histograms: The issue here is that while I'm aware histograms can be manually divided into bins, I'm not yet aware of a histogram that dynamically divides into standard deviations.
- Scatterplots: I am aware that you can use the default scatterplot visual analytics pane to add lines to the default scatterplot visual for means, medians, percentiles and X/Y-axis constant lines. However, none of these lines accept measures as input--you have to manually pick a number for the constant for example, so that prevents me from inputting a measure that could create a dynamic standard deviation line.
The percentile could also stand-in as sort of a replacement standard deviation assuming that your distribution's overall shape doesn't change. However, it's not a proper standard deviation.
- Line and clustered column chart: I like what I have seen people do with these (ie adding a line for a standard deviation measure, a line for a mean measure, a line for mean + standard deviation). I think column charts work really well when you are looking at sums (ie a sales team's total sales by individual for example, so you can quickly see how much each individual sold as well as their mean and standard deviation).
However, in my case, I am wanting to visually show data points that represent cycle times, and it doesn't seem quite right to sum up one individual's cycle times.
- Box and whisker chart: I think this is also a good option that provides an IQR and allows you to see where different data points land in a distribution, but it still doesn't provide the standard deviation. My boss also does not think enough people understand what a box-and-whisker chart is for it to be useful.
Am I overthinking my problem? Does anyone have advice? I made some dummy data below to give an idea of the kind of data I am working with:
| Sport | Goal | Session Date | Session ID | Time (minutes) | Athlete |
| Climbing | 30 | 5/1/2021 | 18 | 37 | Natalie |
| Running | 10 | 5/8/2021 | 19 | 20 | Ryan |
| Climbing | 30 | 5/8/2021 | 30 | 54 | James |
| Running | 10 | 5/9/2021 | 4 | 12 | Natalie |
| Climbing | 30 | 5/10/2021 | 45 | 30 | Natalie |
| Running | 10 | 5/19/2021 | 1 | 24 | James |
| Swimming | 45 | 5/23/2021 | 44 | 44 | James |
| Swimming | 45 | 7/10/2021 | 17 | 45 | James |
| Swimming | 45 | 7/4/2021 | 11 | 46 | Ryan |
| Swimming | 45 | 7/19/2021 | 5 | 46 | Natalie |
| Climbing | 30 | 6/10/2021 | 21 | 47 | Micah |
| Swimming | 45 | 10/13/2021 | 20 | 46 | Natalie |
| Climbing | 30 | 6/20/2021 | 42 | 34 | Natalie |
| Running | 10 | 7/1/2021 | 31 | 14 | Micah |
| Swimming | 45 | 10/5/2021 | 14 | 48 | Ryan |
| Swimming | 45 | 5/21/2021 | 23 | 49 | Beth |
| Climbing | 30 | 7/13/2021 | 36 | 39 | Son |
| Climbing | 30 | 7/15/2021 | 24 | 46 | Ryan |
| Climbing | 30 | 7/16/2021 | 9 | 45 | James |
| Swimming | 45 | 9/2/2021 | 29 | 51 | Beth |
| Climbing | 30 | 7/23/2021 | 27 | 35 | Ryan |
| Climbing | 30 | 7/29/2021 | 3 | 43 | Micah |
| Swimming | 45 | 10/22/2021 | 41 | 51 | Natalie |
| Running | 10 | 8/4/2021 | 16 | 11 | Natalie |
| Climbing | 30 | 8/16/2021 | 39 | 40 | Son |
| Running | 10 | 8/20/2021 | 13 | 20 | James |
| Climbing | 30 | 8/22/2021 | 15 | 37 | Son |
| Running | 10 | 9/1/2021 | 28 | 21 | Natalie |
| Swimming | 45 | 6/12/2021 | 32 | 55 | Beth |
| Running | 10 | 9/3/2021 | 40 | 14 | Micah |
| Running | 10 | 9/6/2021 | 10 | 11 | Ryan |
| Running | 10 | 9/6/2021 | 34 | 25 | Son |
| Climbing | 30 | 9/14/2021 | 12 | 39 | Beth |
| Climbing | 30 | 9/15/2021 | 6 | 39 | Ryan |
| Swimming | 45 | 9/20/2021 | 26 | 55 | Natalie |
| Swimming | 45 | 6/6/2021 | 35 | 60 | James |
| Running | 10 | 10/1/2021 | 43 | 21 | Natalie |
| Running | 10 | 10/4/2021 | 7 | 24 | Micah |
| Swimming | 45 | 6/2/2021 | 8 | 61 | Son |
| Running | 10 | 10/6/2021 | 22 | 9 | Micah |
| Running | 10 | 10/8/2021 | 37 | 20 | James |
| Swimming | 45 | 9/21/2021 | 2 | 63 | James |
| Running | 10 | 10/19/2021 | 25 | 20 | Ryan |
| Climbing | 30 | 10/22/2021 | 33 | 50 | Beth |
| Swimming | 45 | 8/3/2021 | 38 | 64 | Son |
I can also upload a sample .pbix showing dummy data where I've played with standard deviations--I see others have done this on here but I'm not quite sure how to upload it myself.
The constant lines can take measures in their definition.
Here's an example based on your data. Each of these lines is defined by a measure.
See the attached file for more detail (and try clicking the pieces of pie to see it dynamically change).
2 Replies
- AlexisOlson
Super User
The constant lines can take measures in their definition.
Here's an example based on your data. Each of these lines is defined by a measure.
See the attached file for more detail (and try clicking the pieces of pie to see it dynamically change).
- AnonymousNot applicable
This was so helpful! Thank you so much for teaching me this. I had no idea previously.