Multiplicity

In development

Formative Grapher is being rebuilt around inspectable time-series graphs.

Site
formativegrapher.com
Free beta
June 2026
Stage
Active build

The old workbook automated hard parts of behavior-analytic graphing. The browser version keeps that floor and makes the graph itself a structured artifact: source data, graph objects, checks, analyses, exports, and revision history can travel together instead of disappearing into a static image.

Graph structure

Figures are planned around explicit objects: data series, tiers, phases, labels, criteria, axes, scale breaks, transformations, annotations, captions, accessibility text, analysis notes, and export settings.

Pre-export checks

The app should warn before sharing when a graph has missing labels, ambiguous axes, hidden scale changes, questionable secondary axes, inconsistent tier scales, phase-line problems, or data paths that cross conditions unintentionally.

Reproducible exports

Export is planned as more than PNG/PDF. A figure package can include the graph image, source data, a portable .fg.json specification, caption, alt text, export profile, renderer version, and analysis sidecars.

Teaching mode

Example datasets, guided build steps, and checklist feedback can support AB, reversal, multielement, changing-criterion, multiple-baseline, and functional-analysis graphs without turning the product into another static tutorial.

Richer behavior data

The model should support fidelity and interobserver-agreement overlays, missingness reasons, observation windows, trial and event streams, heatmaps, scatterplot-style clinical patterns, and rate-plus-fidelity displays when those views clarify the data.

Analysis as an option

Visual analysis stays central, but optional panels can summarize level, trend, variability, immediacy, overlap, consistency, single-case effect sizes, process-control views, and Bayesian or posterior summaries where they fit the question.

Historical project

Status. This project came out of my master's thesis work. It still largely works a decade later, but it is no longer maintained. The rebuild is covered above.

Formative Grapher

About

A free application for graphing time-series data in Microsoft Excel 2010 and later, Formative Grapher is designed for consistency with APA Style.

Automated Features

Breaks in data paths
Condition labels & lines
Criterion lines
Date-session conversion
Figure captions
Floating y axes
1-click cumulative scales
1-click logarithmic scales
Scale breaks
Tier-stacking & doglegs

Tutorials

A beginner tutorial was published for the project and remains available on YouTube.

The tutorial is hosted on YouTube. Clicking play will load YouTube and may set cookies on YouTube's domain. You can also watch it directly on YouTube .

Download

Version 1.11 remains available as the last published release of the Excel template.

Version 1.11

Changelog

Cite

If you found Formative Grapher helpful for producing plots for publication, please consider citing the journal article or software below.

Citations

  • Kranak, M. P., Shapiro, M. N., Sawyer, M. R., Deochand, N., & Neef, N. A. (2019). Using behavioral skills training to improve graduate students' graphing skills. Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bar0000131
  • Berkman, S. J., Roscoe, E. M., & Bourret, J. C. (2018). Comparing self-directed methods for training staff to create graphs using Graphpad Prism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 52(1), 188-204. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.522
  • Mitteer, D. R., Greer, B. D., Fisher, W. W., & Cohrs, V. L. (2018). Teaching behavior technicians to create publication-quality, single-case design graphs in Graphpad Prism 7. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 51(4), 998-1010. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.483
  • Morris, C. A., Deochand, N., & Peterson, S. M. (2018). Using Microsoft Excel to Build a Customized Partial-Interval Data Collection System. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 11(4), 504-516. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-0259-3
  • Runge, T. J., Bennyhoff, C. F., Ferchalk, M. R., & McCrea, A. E. (2017). The Role of Measurement Interval in Rate of Improvement Calculation. School Psychology Forum, 11(3), 77-90. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1156216
  • Deochand, N. (2017). Automating phase change lines and their labels using Microsoft Excel. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 10(3), 279-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-016-0169-1
  • Tyner, B. C. (2016). The effects of descriptions and images of antecedent stimuli and outcomes to correct responses in task analysis instruction. City University of New York. http://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1631
  • Deochand, N., Costello, M. S., & Fuqua, R. W. (2016). Chart goals for behavior analysis. Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, 17(1), 10-13. https://doi.org/10.1037/bar0000065