Skip to Main Content

Data & Digital Scholarship Tutorials

Workshop Description

This hands-on introduction to Tableau Desktop is split into two sections.

Tableau I will guide users through a series of exercises that will cover data visualizations and interactive dashboards. Using local Texas election data, participants will create maps, scatter plots, column charts, tree maps, and packed bubbles in an effort to explore election voter returns and correlations with voter demographics. No experience necessary!

Tableau II will build upon the first section with an in-depth look at parameters and calculated fields. Using various survey data from McLennan County, participants will build an interactive dashboard allowing end users to calculate a happiness index score.

Tableau I: From Data to Visual Dashboard

Ensure Tableau Desktop is installed on your laptop.

 

 

Any of the three options to the right are perfect for the workshop.

3 Choices

  1. Tableau Desktop Professional: Student License - https://www.tableau.com/academic/students
    1. All students are eligible for a 12-month license of Tableau Desktop Professional
    2. Validation should be instant. If, for whatever reason you are experiencing difficulties, use the Tableau Public option below.

 

  1. Tableau Desktop Professional: Tableau for Teaching License - https://www.tableau.com/academic/teaching
    1. All Baylor instructors are eligible for a 12-month licenses *with the confirmation that the software will be used for teaching purposes*.
    2. Baylor instructors can also request 12-month licenses for their entire class.
    3. Verification is not instant, as far as I understand it. If, for whatever reason you are experiencing difficulties, use the Tableau Public option below.

 

  1. Tableau Public - https://public.tableau.com
    1. 100% free for download by anyone with no student or teacher verification.
    2. This software contains all of the capabilities required for the workshop.

The Baylor Libraries’ Data Scholar Program provides a series of hands-on workshops designed to help Baylor researchers learn about

advanced data research methods, tools, and sources.

Data can be Text, Numbers, and Multimedia

 
More Information: https://blogs.baylor.edu/digitalscholarship/baylor-data-scholars/

Download the Tableau I: Prepared Datasets (link on left) and unzip the election-2016 folder to your desktop.

 

Load the ACS data into Tableau

  1. Launch Tableau

  2. Under Connect, click Microsoft Excel

  3. Browse to and select the demographics.xlsx Excel file

  4. Click Sheet 1 at the bottom of the screen

 

Create Tree Map showing median household income by County

  1. Select County under Dimensions
  2. Hold CTRL and select Income under Measures
  3. Under Show Me on the right, click the Tree Map

​

NOTE: Show Me can be toggled visible/not visible by clicking Show Me.

 

Correct Income Aggregation

  1. Click the Undo button at the top left of the screen

  2. Right-click Income, under Measures, and select Deafult Properties/Aggregation/Average

  3. Now recreate Tree Map

 

Change visualization to Packed Bubbles

  1. Click the Packed Bubbles button on the Show Me tab
  2. Drag Income under Measures to the Color box
  3. Click the Color box and then click Edit Colors to adjust the color scheme.

 

Change visualization to Map

  1. Click the Map button on the Show Me tab

  2. Click the 99 Unknown tag that appears on the bottom right of the map

  3. Under State/Province, select Fixed and then Texas.

  4. OK

Change Visualization to Highlight Table and sort descending

 

 

To sort right-click the County pill in the Rows Shelf and select Sort.

 

 

Click Data Source on the bottom left of the screen

 

 

Click the blue Add button and click Microsoft Excel

 

Select the pres2016.xlsx file

 

Select Left relationship

 

Select Cntyvtd on the left side and Cntyvtd1 on the right

 

Click the New Sheet icon to the right of Sheet 1

Create a Scatter Plot between % Hispanic and % Trump votes in 2016

  1. Select Hispanic and Trump under Measures
  2. Click the Scatter Plot button on the Show Me tab
  3. Drag Cntyvtd under Demographics to the Detail Box
  4. Right-click a blank area of the scatter plot and select Trend Lines/Show Trend Lines
  5. Right-click County under Dimensions/Demographics and select Show Filter

 

Return to the Data Source tab on the far left bottom

 

Click the blue Add button and select Spatial File and select the VTDs.shp file

 

Set the relationship to Left and both sides set to Cntyvtd

 

Create a new sheet

 

Create a VTD Map

  1. Under Measures and under VTDS.shp, double-click Geometry
  2. Under Dimensions and under Demographics, drag Cntyvtd to the Detail box

Test!!

 

Show the % votes for Clinton on the map

 

Click the New Dashboard button to the right of the New Sheet button.
Under Size, use the dropdown menu and change it from fixed Size to Automatic.
Drag sheets as desired to your dashboard  

 

Local Save (to your computer)

  • Tableau Public is unable to save to your computer!​​

 

  • .twbx is a packaged workbook containing an extract of your data
  • .twb points to your data sources but does not contain an extract

Tableau Desktop Professional Only:

  • Before publishing online using Tableau Public Online:
    • On the top menu bar, click Menu, select the dataset, and select Extract Data.
    • Leave all defaults and click Extract.

Publish to Tableau Public Online

  • If you do not have a (free) Tableau Public account, you can sign up for one.
   

 

Tableau Desktop II: Enhanced Interactivity with Parameters and Calculated Fields

We will build an online and interactive visualization allowing users to identify the happiest places within McLennan County, Texas.

Click here for Preview

Download the Tableau II: Prepared Datasets (link on left) and unzip the Tableau-II folder to your desktop.

Load the Shapefile into Tableau

  1. Launch Tableau

  2. Under Connect, click Spatial File

  3. Browse to and select the McLennanBlockGroups.shp file

  4.  

Load the Excel data into Tableau

  1. Click the blue Add button

  2. Select Microsoft Excel and browse to/select happiness.xlsx

  3. Set the relationship to Left and Geoid from the data source to Fips from the Excel file.

 
Click Sheet 1 at the bottom of screen

 

Visualize block group map

  1. Under Measures and under McLennanBlockGroups.shp double-click Geometry.

  2. Under Dimensions and under McLennanBlockGroups.shp drag Geoid to the Detail box.

  3. Drag measures to the Color box to view graduated colors.
   

 

Create a Parameter to hold 3 Measures

  1. Click the small triangle carrot to the right of Dimensions and select Create Parameter...

Name: Measure Chooser

Data Type: String

Allowable Values: List

Then type labels for the three measures you choose.

OK

 

A new Parameters category will appear beneath Measures.

Under Parameters, right-click Measure Chooser and select Show Parameter Control.

 

You will now see a drop-down menu to the right of the map.

 

Create a new Calculated Field to hold data selected by our parameter.

  1. Click the small triangle carrot to the right of Dimensions and select Create Calculated Field...

Name: Measure Placeholder

Calculation (your calculation may need to be different):

// Basic Condition Statement
IF [Measure Chooser]="Income" THEN [Median Household Income]

// Example of contains
ELSEIF CONTAINS([Measure Chooser],"Crime") THEN [Attitudes (General) - Agree A Lot | I Worry About Violence And Crime, 2017]

ELSEIF [Measure Chooser]="BMI" THEN [% Body mass index - Healthy weight, 2018]

// All If statements must end with END
END

_____________

Click OK
Under Measures, drag Measure Placeholder to the Color Box.

 

Created Normalized Values for each of the three selected measures:

  1. Create Calculated Field
  2. Name: Normalized: Measure
  3. Formula:

 

// Name: Normalized BMI

// Formula: (Value-Minimum Value)/(Maximum Value-Minimum Value)
// To invert the order, add a 1- before the formula, such as 1-( (Value-Minimum Value)/(Maximum Value-Minimum Value) )

// Surround maximum and minimum expressions with curly brackets {}, such as {min(value)}

1-(
([% Body mass index - Healthy weight, 2018]-{min([% Body mass index - Healthy weight, 2018])})
/
({max([% Body mass index - Healthy weight, 2018])}-{MIN([% Body mass index - Healthy weight, 2018])})
)

 

_______________________________________

 

// Name: Normalized Income

([Median Household Income]-{min([Median Household Income])})
/
({max([Median Household Income])}-{MIN([Median Household Income])})

 

_______________________________________

 

// Name: Normalized Violence

1-(

([Attitudes (General) - Agree A Lot | I Worry About Violence And Crime, 2017]-{min([Attitudes (General) - Agree A Lot | I Worry About Violence And Crime, 2017])})
/
({max([Attitudes (General) - Agree A Lot | I Worry About Violence And Crime, 2017])}-{MIN([Attitudes (General) - Agree A Lot | I Worry About Violence And Crime, 2017])})

)

Create Parameters for each of the three selected measures:

  1. Name: Weight: Measure
  2. Data Type: Float
  3. Current Value: 0
  4. OK

Right-click these parameters and Show Parameter Control.

Add Weighted Values option to Measure Chooser Parameter

  1. Under Parameters, right-click Measure Chooser and select Edit...
  2. Add -- Weighted Values -- as a new item
  3. OK

Create Weighted Sum Calculation

  1. Right-click the Measure Placeholder measure and select Edit...
  2. After the last Elseif but before the End, enter the following:

ELSE [Normalized BMI]*[Weight: BMI]
+([Normalized Income]*[Weight: Income])
+([Normalized Violence]*[Weight: Violence/Crime])

University Libraries

One Bear Place #97148
Waco, TX 76798-7148

(254) 710-6702

Osofast A-Z Databases OneSearch Profiles Library Account Login Hours
Baylor University

Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved.

Report It | Title IX | Mental Health Resources | Anonymous Reporting | Legal Disclosures