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Plot of Means Tool Icon Plot of Means Tool

One Tool Example

Plot of Means has a One Tool Example. Go to Sample Workflows to learn how to access this and many other examples directly in Alteryx Designer.

Use Plot of Means to plot the mean of the response field for each of the categories (levels) of the categorical field.

The Plot of Means tool takes a numeric or binary categorical field (with the binary categorical field converted into a set of zero and one values) as a response field along with a categorical field and plots the mean of the response field for each of the categories (levels) of the categorical field. In addition, error bars based on the standard error, standard deviation, or a confidence interval for each mean can be placed on the plot. The tool is an excellent choice for visualizing the effect of a possible categorical predictor field on a numerical or binary target field in the process of developing predictive models.

This tool uses the R tool. Go to Options > Download Predictive Tools and sign in to the Alteryx Downloads and Licenses portal to install R and the packages used by the R tool. Visit Download and Use Predictive Tools.

Configure the Tool

Configuration Tab

  • Response field: The numeric or binary categorical field for which the means will be calculated.

  • The response field is binary categorical...: A check box to indicate that the response field is a binary categorical. When checked, you are asked to indicate the field value that corresponds to a value of one (the "target"), with entries with the other field value taking the value zero.

  • Select a categorical field to group by: The categorical field each level of which will correspond to a response field mean. If a level of the categorical field consists of only a single record in the data stream, the error bars on the plot are suppressed and a warning message is issued.

  • Error bars: Select one of standard error, standard deviation, confidence interval, or none.

    • If Confidence interval is selected, set the Confidence level (%), the confidence interval band (for example, the 95% confidence interval) to use if "confidence interval" is the selection for the error bars.

    • If None is selected, error bars are suppressed.

Graphics Options Tab

Use the Graphics Options tab to set the controls for the graphical output.

  • Plot size: Select inches or centimeters and specify the width and height for the size of the graph.

  • Graph resolution: Select the resolution of the graph in dots per inch: 1x (96 dpi), 2x (192 dpi), or 3x (288 dpi).

    • Lower resolution creates a smaller file and is best for viewing on a monitor.

    • Higher resolution creates a larger file with better print quality.

  • Base font size (points): Select the size of the font in the graph.

View the Output

This tool outputs an R-Graph object that can be used to assist in the creation of custom reports.

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