Plotting Data
Plotting Data
Describing Distribution
Once the data has been graphed, look at the graph to see patterns of the data. The pattern tells us quite a bit about data. There are some key words used to describe the distribution or pattern of the data. Not all the words are used to describe data for every kind of graph but it is good to remember them.
The first has to do with the shape. Is the data symmetric (a mirror image)? Or is the data stretched to one end or the other? In a scatterplot, does the data appear to be linear or does the distribution look curved?
Some questions to consider when looking at a scatter plot include: are there any outliers or data that is removed from the rest of the data, what is the spread of the data, what are the smallest (minimum) and largest (maximum) data points, and finally what is the range of the data? To find the range, subtract the minimum from the maximum point.