Relationships between categorical and continuous fields

When working with categorical variables, frequency tables and graphs containing counts and percentages are appropriate summaries. For continuous variables, because there are typically so many unique values, that counts and percentages can quickly become less useful and unwieldy, so traditionally we turn to the mean as the summary statistic of choice, since it provides a single measure of central tendency. In this section, we will discuss two nodes, the Histogram and Means nodes, that allow you to investigate the distribution and relationships of continuous and categorical variables.

Histogram node

The Histogram node shows the distribution of values for continuous fields. To use the Histogram node:

1. Place a Histogram node on the canvas.
2. Connect the Type node to the Histogram node.
3. Edit the Histogram node.

To see the distribution of a continuous field, place a field in the Field drop-down list:

1. Click the Field drop-down arrow.
2. Select the field...