Create a chart of positive responses to rating scale questions

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A rating scale question typically includes at least 5 points, however an analysis of the results can be harder to interpret if all 5 categories are charted. That’s where a chart showing only the positive responses can be useful.

Neutral and negative categories are excluded, leaving only the positive responses – enabling quick comparison between different questions or subgroups.

This worksheet shows how to:

  • Recategorise responses as ‘Positive’, ‘Neutral’ or ‘Negative’
  • Create a horizontal bar chart using the new categories
  • Exclude ‘Neutral’ and ‘Negative’ categories, leaving only the ‘Positive’ category

Step 1: Recategorise responses as ‘Positive’, ‘Neutral’ or ‘Negative’

In this example, participants rate aspects of service on a 5 point scale ranging from ‘Very Good’ to ‘Very Poor’. Derived Variables are used to sort ‘Very Good’ and ‘Good’ responses into a new ‘Positive’ category, ‘OK’ responses into a new ‘Neutral’ category, and ‘Poor’ and ‘Very Poor’ responses into a new ‘Negative’ category.

  1. Click VariablesButton to display the Variables Window.
  2. Click Plus to add a new variable.
  3. Specify the Variable details as follows:
    Name: VQ8a
    Label: Quality of product (this will be displayed on the chart)
    Type: Derived (the variable will derive its data from other existing variables)
    Response: Single (each respondent will only fall into one of the new codes)
  4. Specify in the ‘Value’ column, how counts should be redistributed among the new categories. For example, to categorise points 1 and 2 on the scale (‘Very Poor’ and ‘Poor’) as ‘Negative’ type ‘Q8a=(1,2)’ in the Value field for the ‘Negative’ category.
  5. Click Save to save the variable.
  6. Click Clone on the Variables Window toolbar to copy the variable you have just created. Change ‘Q8.a’ to ‘Q8.b’ throughout, and update the label.
  7. Click Save to save.
  8. Repeat for any other questions in the grid.

Step 2: Create a horizontal bar chart using the new ‘derived’ categories

Now you can use the new Derived Variables to create a stacked bar chart of Positive, Neutral, and Negative results.

  1. Click BuildChart to build a chart.
  2. Select the Style ‘Horizontal Stacked Bar Percent Transposed’.
  3. Type the grid questions into the analysis field.
  4. Select the option Analysis Percents.
  5. Select ‘Transpose’.
  6. Click ‘Apply‘. Your chart should look like this:
  7. Click Save to save the chart.

Step 3: Show only the positive ratings

To create a percent positive chart, the negative and neutral values can now be excluded  (you could also exclude the positive and neutral values to create a percent negative chart.) This is achieved using the Chart Designer.

  1. Open your analysis window if it is not already open.
  2. Double-click the ‘Negative‘ bar to open the Chart Designer. It will open with Series selected on the left-hand side.
  3. Select ‘Negative‘ in the Series list and select ‘Exclude Series‘ in the options.
  4. Do the same for the ‘Neutral‘ category.
  5. Click ‘OK‘ to close the Chart Designer. Your chart will now show only the positive ratings.

Note: This worksheet uses the style ‘Horizontal Stacked Bar Percent Transposed’, other styles are available and can be adapted to fit your specific needs.

Further Resources

For a detailed introduction to analysis in Snap, including a description of all variable types, how to create data filters and more, view the ‘Analysis Essentials’ interactive tutorial. If you’d like to learn more about reporting your survey results, including how to add your own analyses to the default reports,  watch the ’Viewing, customising the default Questionnaire and Summary reports’ interactive tutorial.

Other worksheets you may be interested in

Find more resources in the ‘Analysing Rating Scale Questions’ section.