Oh, The Things You Can Think!
SACS-COC Conference, Atlanta GA
Steps we used for the use of the Tableau-Excel add-on
Reshaping Tool
Setup:
 Limited sample of survey response data
 Two Files
o The LEGEND – the codebook for the questions and the answers
o The RAW DATA – unit level data for each question
 May contain student ids or not
 Coded data for answers
 Depending upon survey, may contain more than one answer
per question, e.g. gap scores
 More to consider but not included here
o The benchmark results that are prepared and presented separately
from the aforementioned files
o Multiple years of data, which will require the careful evaluation of
subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) question changes
Considerations:
 Question-by-question analysis and/or question selection
 Groupings of questions, including pre-defined groups or campus-defined
groups
Tabs 1 and 5 – The Raw Data
-Legend
-Student/Unit level data
Original files are generally set up one row per student.
--with multiple columns for questions. (As many rows down as respondents and as
many columns across as question responses.)
This doesn’t work very well for quick analysis… but would allow for question-byquestion analysis. For this exercise, we would like a few dashboards instead of
several dozen dashboards.
Additional Resources from the Tableau Knowledge Base
Preparing your MSExcel data:
http://kb.tableausoftware.com/articles/knowledgebase/preparing-excel-files-analysis
Installing the Tableau Add-In for data reshaping:
http://kb.tableausoftware.com/articles/knowledgebase/addin-reshaping-data-excel
Tableau Public Gallery
http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery
Sample we created using IPEDS data: http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/IPEDSexampleLanguageCIPcode16/LanguageDegreesConferredin2011?:embed=y&:display_count=no
CS-150 (Strand 5)
Monday, December 9, 2013 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m
Dr. Glenn James and Ms. Robin Logan, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio TX
Oh, The Things You Can Think!
SACS-COC Conference, Atlanta GA
Codebook Data
Tab 1 review – the Legend:
1. Check for all questions and values being described
Tab 2 changes – the Legend:
1. Add the Survey Term
2. Add any groupings necessary to help with evaluation.
3. Remain cognizant of what will be used to link the tables. (Here: Survey Term,
Variable, Value). These are those items in the raw data that need to be
described further.
Tab 3 changes – the Legend:
1. Add the Survey Term
2. Add any groupings necessary to help with evaluation.
3. Remain cognizant of what will be used to link the tables. (Here: Survey Term,
Variable, Value). These are those items in the raw data that need to be
described further.
Tab 4 ready to use– the Legend:
1. Make certain the header row is positioned in row 1.
CS-150 (Strand 5)
Monday, December 9, 2013 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m
Dr. Glenn James and Ms. Robin Logan, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio TX
Oh, The Things You Can Think!
SACS-COC Conference, Atlanta GA
Raw Question Data
Tab 5 review – the RAW Data:
1. Notice that we do not have student identifiers with this information.
2. Notice that some response fields are blank.
Tab 6 change – the RAW Data:
1. Add a unique row identifier before applying the Tableau Reshaping Process.
2. Add a column for the survey term.
3. Replace all blank fields in the data responses with a character. Without this
step, you will lose some respondent (non-respondent) fields.
Tab 7 decide – the RAW Data:
1. Will you need any filters for demographic information?
2. Copy the columns with the data and rename the column headings.
3. Complete your process to translate these items to natural language.
4. Place the columns in order so that your reshaping cell starts with the first cell
of the data. (PURPLE CELL). Multiple rows will be created for each column
header above and to the right of the cell, with row headings repeated for each
row using data to the left of the cell.
5. See if everything is ready to reshape.
6. Select the first cell with the first data value.
Tab 8 Let’s do the Twist – the RAW data:
1. Make certain the header row is positioned in row 1.
2. Watch the data to the left of the anchor cell.
Tab 9 Reshaped Data:
1. Review the data. You should see
1. A larger number of rows*
2. Repeated values for the survey number and term
3. Repeated values for the chosen demographic columns
4. Each question and response on its own row
* Be cognizant of row limitations in MSExcel (65,536 rows x 256 columns in 2003;
1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns in 2007 forward)
2. Rename the data columns as appropriate. Some may be used as a key to
match to the Variable list.
Tab 10 Reshaped data ready to use
1. Make certain the header row is positioned in row 1.
CS-150 (Strand 5)
Monday, December 9, 2013 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m
Dr. Glenn James and Ms. Robin Logan, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio TX