[OriginPro] Make a Percentage Stacked Bar Chart in One Click: Questionnaire Data Example

When doing descriptive analysis for questionnaires, many students first want to see the response distribution for each scale item, but get stuck on how to draw a chart that is both standard and good-looking. This tutorial uses OriginPro and Excel to create a horizontal 100% stacked bar chart, a classic visualization for Likert scales, and adds report-ready statistics and styling details.

1. Calculate the data in Excel

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Before opening OriginPro, prepare a clear data matrix in Excel.

1.1 Build a distribution table

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Create a distribution table with one row per item and columns for scores 1–5:

If the raw scores for one item are in B2:B51:

• Count score 1 with =COUNTIF(B2:B51,1); do the same for 2–5.
• Count valid responses with =COUNT(B2:B51).

This tutorial uses the workflow frequency counts in Excel → normalization in Origin. Keep frequency counts in Excel. In Origin, use the 100% stacked bar template or enable Plot Details → Stack → Normalize to Percent for Cumulative to make each row sum to 100%.

2. Bring data into OriginPro and draw a horizontal 100% stacked bar chart

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2.1 Import data and set column properties

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1. Start OriginPro and create a workbook.
2. Copy the item column and the 1–5 frequency columns from Excel. Column A should contain item text; columns B–F contain counts from 1 to 5.
3. Right-click the header of column A and choose Set as Categorical. This keeps the original item order instead of alphabetic sorting.

2.2 Generate the chart

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1. Select column A and columns B–F.
2. Use Plot → Categorical: Bar, Pie, Area → 100% Stacked Bar.
3. If you created an ordinary stacked bar chart, open Plot Details → Stack and enable Normalize to Percent for Cumulative.
4. Choose the Bar template family for a horizontal chart, not the vertical Column family.

2.3 Polish axes, grids, and legend

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• Remove stack connection lines in Plot Details → Stack by disabling Show Connect Line on Stack Column/Bar.
• Set the horizontal axis to percentages: major tick interval 25, range 0 to 100, tick-label display factor 0.01, and suffix %.
• Add light gray vertical major grid lines to improve reading alignment.
• Clean up the item axis by hiding major and minor ticks.
• For the legend, either let text color follow the plotted series or create a custom text legend with one line for each Likert option.

Keep the legend order consistent with the stacking order, such as 1 → 5.

3. Extended analysis: key statistics

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A chart shows distribution, but reports often need numeric anchors. Calculate these in Excel:

• Mean: =AVERAGE(B2:B51)
• Standard deviation: =STDEV.S(B2:B51)
• Top-2 Box: scores 4 and 5, either by adding the two percentage cells or using =COUNTIF(B2:B51,">=4") / COUNT(B2:B51)

Suggested reporting layout:

• Main chart: 100% stacked horizontal bars in questionnaire order.
• Secondary chart: Top-2 Box horizontal bars sorted high to low.
• Table: mean, SD, and Top-2 side by side.

Quick checklist and common pitfalls

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• Set column A as Categorical to keep item order.
• Use 100% Stacked Bar or enable Normalize to Percent for Cumulative.
• For percentage tick labels, set Divide by Factor = 0.01 and Suffix = %.
• Let legend text color follow plot color when possible.
• Remove stack connection lines for a cleaner figure.

Preserved command, configuration, and prompt blocks

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