The jittering technique in Tableau

Last week we talked about how to create a jitter plot in Tableau, and this week we will understand more about the jittering technique overall. Better than in an excel sheet or online, jittering allows you to separate overlapping marks on a view. This way, you will be able to observe more of the hidden data and analyse it.

The jittering technique helps you scatter your data points, so they aren’t plotted directly on top of each other. You could also separate marks or dots in different columns. This can be done in the best analytics tool, Tableau.

When not to use a Jitter Plot?

→If you work with geographic data

→If you want to see details of more countries on the view

→If you don’t want to separate marks or dots into different columns

→For day-to-day reports

Here are the steps that define the Jittering Technique in Tableau:

Step 1: Connect to data

→In Tableau Desktop, connect to Sample – Global Superstore data provided by Tableau.

Step 2: Create the calculated fields and the parameter

→Create a calculated field named “Jitter”:

Random()

→Duplicate Jitter and rename it to Jitter 2 :

Random()

→Go to Analysis and make sure that the Aggregate Measures option is unchecked

→Add Category to Columns

→Add Order ID to Detail

→Add Category to Color

→Add Sales on Size

→Change Marks from Automatic to Circle

For this Tableau viz, Șerban Grecu, Data Analyst @ btProvider used the Global Superstore database. Learn more about how:

If you want to build jitter charts for presentations or covers, you can use the following steps to build one from scratch. The information will look aggregated and on a granular level as well.

Step 1: Connect to data

→In Tableau Desktop, connect to Superstore sample data provided by Tableau.

Step 2: Create the visualization

→Add Segment to Columns

→Add Order Id to Details

→Add Sales on Size

→Create a Calculated Field named Bar Height, make it a Dimension, then add it to Columns (format to percentage)

{FIXED [Segment]: SUM([Sales])}

/

{FIXED : SUM([Sales])}

→Create a Calculated Field named Random using the below formula:

(PREVIOUS_VALUE(MIN(1)) * 1140671485 + 12820163) % (2^24)

→Create a Calculated field named Columns, then add it to Columns.

(PREVIOUS_VALUE(MIN(2)) * 1140671485 + 12820163) % (2^24)

→Create a Calculated field named Rows, then add it to Rows

[Random]*sum([Bar Height])

→For both Columns and Rows fields, use Compute using Order ID

→Add Market to Filters and select US.

→ Change the Mark Type from Automatic to Circle, increase the Size and set Transparency to 75%.

More details are in the #skillpill video below, created by Ana-Maria Scarlat – Data Analyst @ btProvider.

About btProvider:

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