Turn Your Google Docs Form Responses Into Beautiful Visualizations - Envato Tuts+ Computer Skills Tutorial 14/02/16

14/02/16 19.09 Turn Your Google Docs Form Responses Into Beautiful Visualizations - Envato Tuts+ Computer Skills Tutorial 14/02/16 19.09

choice, scale, choose from a list or check box question type. The reasoning behind
Start your free 10 day trial of Envato Tuts+ today! Join Now ! this will become apparent later on, but for now, take my word for it! Think of it like
grading a test- the multiple choice questions provide quick data with no room for
!"##$%&$'()$*"+(, -+./$0/ & variation- there are only so many responses available! If you used a text box
question type, even for a simple question like "How old are you?", answer formats
will vary depending on the respondent and would therefore be difficult to chart (ex. I
am 12, 11 years old, thirteen, and more).

GOOGLE DRIVE 2. Name Your Range

Turn Your Google Docs Once your audience has responded to the form, their answers will populate a

Form Responses Into

Google spreadsheet. In the first row the spreadsheet, you'll see your original
questions. In order to make the next part of the process easier, you are going to give

Beautiful Visualizations
each column a "nickname" or named range. If you were using the example from the
previous step, the named range for the question "How old are you?" might simply be
Age.
by Melissa Murphy 14 Jul 2014 ! 20 Comments

" 20 # $ % To name a range, highlight the column of question and responses that you want to
graph. After highlighting the row, select Data on the toolbar, and then Named and
protected ranges.
One of Google Docs best features is its forms, which are a free way to survey your
users and gather information. The survey data is then automatically saved into a
Google Sheets spreadsheet, where you can put the data to workand that's where
things get really interesting. Unlike most form apps where you'll simply get a list of
your responses, Google Sheets lets you turn your data into charts and other
visualizations in seconds.

It'll take a bit of extra effort, but once you're done, your form will be far more powerful
than just a form. This tutorial will show you everything you need to turn your Google
Docs form responses into beautiful visualizations, no other apps needed.

1. Pick Your Question Types Carefully

It all starts with your form. If you know there are certain questions that you will want
be able to show a graph of responses, my recommendation is to use a multiple

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Turn Your Google Docs Form Responses Into Beautiful Visualizations - Envato Tuts+ Computer Skills Tutorial 14/02/16 19.09 Turn Your Google Docs Form Responses Into Beautiful Visualizations - Envato Tuts+ Computer Skills Tutorial 14/02/16 19.09

I named this range peasy because the product I was surveying about began with the letter "P" and I was

questioning ease of use.

3. Add a New Sheet

Select the + sign at the bottom left corner of the screen to add a new spreadsheet.

In this example, I wanted to graph responses to the question in Column B. I highlighted the column by clicking on

B at the top of the spreadsheet, then selected Data on the toolbar. Finally, I scrolled down to Named and

protected ranges.

Next, select Add range, type in a short nickname for the column of data, and then
select Done.

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Turn Your Google Docs Form Responses Into Beautiful Visualizations - Envato Tuts+ Computer Skills Tutorial
When you click the + sign at the bottom of the sheet, a new spreadsheet will appear next to Form Responses
and will be blank.
4. Add Responses to Column A
On Sheet2, you will need to fill in all the possible answer choices to your original
question. Each possible response answer will go in its own cell in column A. For
example, the possible responses to the survey question I used were Strongly
Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree. If you look at the picture below,
you will see that I entered each response into its own cell, being careful to type the
responses EXACTLY as they were written on the form.
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14/02/16 19.09 Turn Your Google Docs Form Responses Into Beautiful Visualizations - Envato Tuts+ Computer Skills Tutorial 14/02/16 19.09
Be sure to type all the possible responses to your questions in Column A exactly how they are displayed. Not
using capitalization or a misspelling will throw off your data.
5. Use =countif Code in Column B
Here is where things get a little tricky. In order to create a chart, you need to know
how many times each response occurred. To do this, you will use a formula
called countif, which will count your responses from the previous sheet in the
specified column. Once you apply the formula once, it can just be applied to the rest
of your rows.
The countif formula requires two pieces of information: the name of the column you
want the spreadsheet to refer back to (which is the named range from step 3) and
the response you want it to count (which were typed into column A in step 4).
Next to your first response, which is most likely in cell A1, you will type in the
beginning of the formula as =countif( . A dialogue box will appear with directions as
to how to complete the formula correctly. You will continue the formula with the
named range, followed by a comma, and the cell location of the response you want
to count.
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I completed the formula using peasy as my range, followed by a comma, and A1 as the location of the response

I wished to count.

Although Google provides these directions to fill in your count if formula, the directions they provide may look Once you have completed this process for one cell, Google Sheets will automatically
overwhelming. apply the formula to the rest of your cells. Hover over the square in the bottom right
corner of your formula cell until a cross + appears. Then click down and drag the
cross down as many cells as there are responses, and the formulas will pre-
In my example, to count responses to Strongly Disagree, I would type
populate and count the responses for you.
in =countif(peasy, A1) because "peasy" was the name I gave my range in step 3,
and A1 is the location of Strongly Disagree in column A. Finish the formula with a
closed bracket, and the formula should be replaced by the number of times that
response occurred.

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After dragging the formula cell down, numerical values will populate column B to show how many times each

response occurred.
To extend the formula to the rest of your cells, hover your cursor over the square that is circled above, click and

hold your mouse, and drag down as far as you need the formula. In my case, I would click and drag down to B5,

as my last response is in cell A5.

6. Create a Chart
Once you have dragged the square down to the final response, you will see numeric
Now that the number of responses has been counted, you can create your graph.
values next to each response, representing the number of times each response was
First, highlight all your cells, including the responses in column A and their
given.
respective values in column B. Next, select Insert on the toolbar and scroll down
to Chart.

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In the Chart Editor, you can choose your graph or chart type.

From the toolbar, select Insert, then Chart.

A new dialogue box, the Chart Editor, will open. From here, you will be able to
select the type of chart you would like to be displayed. For my example, a coulmn
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graph or a pie chart would display the data in an appropriate way. I chose a column
graph.

7. Customize Your Chart

Finally, you can customize your chart by giving the chart a title, adding x-axis and y-
axis values and titles, and changing background or chart colors.

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To save, copy or publish your chart, click the dropdown arrow at the top right corner
of the chart.

You can customize your chart from the same dialogue box by clicking Customize .

Once you have customized your chart, click Insert to return to the spreadsheet,
where your graph will be displayed.
You can save, copy, or publish your chart, whatever your display needs might be!

Conclusion
Spreadsheets are incredibly powerful tools, so tie a online spreadsheet with a simple
online form tool, and you've got quite a powerful combination. That's what Google
Sheets Forms offers. Next time you need to run a survey, give it a try, and leave a
comment below if you have any trouble.

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