Graphical Presentation of Data

Slides:



Advertisements
Similar presentations
Descriptive Measures MARE 250 Dr. Jason Turner.
Advertisements

Measures of Dispersion
Chapter 3 Describing Data Using Numerical Measures
Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach, 7e © 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 3-1 Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach 7 th Edition Chapter.
Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach, 7e © 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 3-1 Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach 7 th Edition Chapter.
Calculating & Reporting Healthcare Statistics
Sullivan – Statistics: Informed Decisions Using Data – 2 nd Edition – Chapter 3 Introduction – Slide 1 of 3 Topic 16 Numerically Summarizing Data- Averages.
Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach, 7e © 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 3-1 Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach 7 th Edition Chapter.
Intro to Descriptive Statistics
Slides by JOHN LOUCKS St. Edward’s University.
B a c kn e x t h o m e Classification of Variables Discrete Numerical Variable A variable that produces a response that comes from a counting process.
Understanding and Comparing Distributions
Descriptive Statistics  Summarizing, Simplifying  Useful for comprehending data, and thus making meaningful interpretations, particularly in medium to.
Measures of Central Tendency
Describing Data: Numerical
Chapter 2 Describing Data with Numerical Measurements
Department of Quantitative Methods & Information Systems
Describing distributions with numbers
Descriptive Statistics  Summarizing, Simplifying  Useful for comprehending data, and thus making meaningful interpretations, particularly in medium to.
Descriptive Statistics Used to describe the basic features of the data in any quantitative study. Both graphical displays and descriptive summary statistics.
Chapter 2 Describing Data with Numerical Measurements General Objectives: Graphs are extremely useful for the visual description of a data set. However,
1 Statistical Analysis - Graphical Techniques Dr. Jerrell T. Stracener, SAE Fellow Leadership in Engineering EMIS 7370/5370 STAT 5340 : PROBABILITY AND.
Chapter 3: Central Tendency. Central Tendency In general terms, central tendency is a statistical measure that determines a single value that accurately.
Measures of Central Tendency or Measures of Location or Measures of Averages.
Graphical Summary of Data Distribution Statistical View Point Histograms Skewness Kurtosis Other Descriptive Summary Measures Source:
McGraw-Hill/IrwinCopyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 3 Descriptive Statistics: Numerical Methods.
Smith/Davis (c) 2005 Prentice Hall Chapter Four Basic Statistical Concepts, Frequency Tables, Graphs, Frequency Distributions, and Measures of Central.
© Copyright McGraw-Hill CHAPTER 3 Data Description.
© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Numbers Numbers mean different things in different situations. Consider three answers that appear.
Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion Preferred measures of central location & dispersion DispersionCentral locationType of Distribution SDMeanNormal.
Chapter 3 Descriptive Statistics: Numerical Methods Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Descriptive Statistics: Numerical Methods
STAT 280: Elementary Applied Statistics Describing Data Using Numerical Measures.
Chapter 2 Describing Data.
Describing distributions with numbers
Biostatistics Class 1 1/25/2000 Introduction Descriptive Statistics.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 3 Descriptive Statistics: Numerical Methods.
Lecture 3 Describing Data Using Numerical Measures.
Skewness & Kurtosis: Reference
An Introduction to Statistics. Two Branches of Statistical Methods Descriptive statistics Techniques for describing data in abbreviated, symbolic fashion.
The Central Tendency is the center of the distribution of a data set. You can think of this value as where the middle of a distribution lies. Measure.
Describing and Displaying Quantitative data. Summarizing continuous data Displaying continuous data Within-subject variability Presentation.
Categorical vs. Quantitative…
Numerical Statistics Given a set of data (numbers and a context) we are interested in how to describe the entire set without listing all the elements.
INVESTIGATION 1.
Descriptive Statistics The goal of descriptive statistics is to summarize a collection of data in a clear and understandable way.
1 Descriptive Statistics 2-1 Overview 2-2 Summarizing Data with Frequency Tables 2-3 Pictures of Data 2-4 Measures of Center 2-5 Measures of Variation.
 The mean is typically what is meant by the word “average.” The mean is perhaps the most common measure of central tendency.  The sample mean is written.
Chapter 3: Central Tendency. Central Tendency In general terms, central tendency is a statistical measure that determines a single value that accurately.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall2(2)-1 Chapter 2: Displaying and Summarizing Data Part 2: Descriptive Statistics.
Statistics topics from both Math 1 and Math 2, both featured on the GHSGT.
LIS 570 Summarising and presenting data - Univariate analysis.
Introduction to statistics I Sophia King Rm. P24 HWB
Chapter 2 Describing and Presenting a Distribution of Scores.
Descriptive Statistics(Summary and Variability measures)
Data Description Chapter 3. The Focus of Chapter 3  Chapter 2 showed you how to organize and present data.  Chapter 3 will show you how to summarize.
1 Statistical Analysis - Graphical Techniques Dr. Jerrell T. Stracener, SAE Fellow Leadership in Engineering EMIS 7370/5370 STAT 5340 : PROBABILITY AND.
Chapter 6: Descriptive Statistics. Learning Objectives Describe statistical measures used in descriptive statistics Compute measures of central tendency.
MR. MARK ANTHONY GARCIA, M.S. MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY.
Describing Data Week 1 The W’s (Where do the Numbers come from?) Who: Who was measured? By Whom: Who did the measuring What: What was measured? Where:
Describing Data: Summary Measures. Identifying the Scale of Measurement Before you analyze the data, identify the measurement scale for each variable.
Slide 1 Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.  Descriptive Statistics summarize or describe the important characteristics of a known set of population.
Exploratory Data Analysis
Measure of the Central Tendency For Grouped data
Chapter 2: Methods for Describing Data Sets
Samples & Population Population: A population is an entire group, collection or space of objects which we want to characterize (we want to study the bad.
CHAPTER 3 Data Description 9/17/2018 Kasturiarachi.
Description of Data (Summary and Variability measures)
Descriptive Statistics
Advanced Algebra Unit 1 Vocabulary
Presentation transcript:

Graphical Presentation of Data Biostatistics Lecture 2 Graphical Presentation of Data

Data Organization Measurements that have not been organized, summarized or otherwise manipulated are called raw data. Unless the number of observations is extremely small, it will be unlikely that these raw data will impart much information until they have been put into some kind of order. Always it is easier to analyze organized data

The ordered array The preparation of the ordered array is the first step in organizing data. An ordered array is a listing of the values of a collection (either population or sample) from the smallest value to the largest value. The ordered array enables one to determine quickly the value of the smallest measurement, the value of the largest measurement and the general trends in the data. Raw data 13 3 17 9 5 7 15 11 Organized

Grouped Data The frequency distribution Although a set of observation can be made more comprehensible and meaningful by means of an ordered array, further useful summarization may be achieved by grouping the data. To group a set of observations, we select a set of non-overlapping intervals such that each value in the data set of observations can be placed in one, and only one, interval. These intervals are usually referred to as Class Intervals. Usually class intervals are ordered from smallest to largest.

Grouped data The frequency distribution How many intervals should we use? (0-100 years) Too few intervals are undesirable because of the resulting loss of information. (eg. 0-50, 51-100) two intervals Too many intervals, on the other hand, will not meet the objective of summarization. (eg. 0-1,2-3,4-5,…….99-100)!! A commonly used rule is there should be no fewer than six intervals and no more than 15. (6-15 is optimal) Sturges rule: where k is the number of class intervals and n is the number of values in the data set under consideration. (rounded to nearest integer) The size of the class interval is often selected as 5, 10, 15 or 20 etc

Grouped data The frequency distribution The width of class intervals: Class intervals should be generally of the same width. The width may be obtained by dividing the range by k, the number of class intervals. eg: tablet hardness values range between 50 and 120 N, calculate the recommended number of intervals and the interval width for data contains 60 values of tablet hardness?? n= 60 Range (k)=largest – smallest=120-50=70 #intervals=1+3.329(logn)=1+3.329(log60)=7 Interval width=k/n=70/7=10

Grouped data The frequency distribution Frequency distribution of ages of 169 subjects. Class Interval Frequency 10-19 4 20-29 66 30-39 47 40-49 36 50-59 12 60-69 Total 169 non-overlapping intervals How many subjects are there in each class interval? Variables range = 69-10 + 1 = 60 Interval width

Grouped data The relative frequency distribution It may be useful sometimes to know the proportion rather than the number, of values falling between a particular class interval. We obtain this information by dividing the number of values in the particular class interval by the total number of values. We refer to the proportion of values falling within a class interval as the relative frequency of values in that interval. We may sum (cumulate) the frequencies and relative frequencies to facilitate obtaining information regarding frequency or relative frequency of values within two or more contiguous class intervals. Class Interval Frequency Relative Frequency Cumulative Frequency Cumulative Relative Frequency 10-19 4 0.0237 20-29 66 0.3905 70 0.4142 30-39 47 0.2781 117 0.6923 40-49 36 0.2130 153 0.9053 50-59 12 0.0710 165 0.9763 60-69 169 1.0000 Total

Grouped data The relative frequency distribution We use true limits to fill the gaps between intervals for a continuous variable. Using true limits is very essential to calculate statistics (range, median,…etc) of grouped data. Upper true limit = upper class value + 0.5. Lower true limit = lower class value - 0.5. Intervals True limits frequency 10--19 9.5-19.5 4 20-29 19.5-29.5 66 30-39 29.5-39.5 47 40-49 39.5-49.5 36 50-59 49.5-59.5 12 60-69 59.5-69.5

Histogram We may display a frequency distribution (or a relative frequency distribution) graphically in the form of a histogram, which is a special type of bar graphs. This histogram is a probability distribution that consists of adjacent columns to represent a continuous variable such as weight, height, age..etc. When we construct a histogram, the variable under consideration are represented by the horizontal (x) axis, while the the frequency (or relative frequency) of occurrence is the (y) axis. Histogram Frequency Age interval, yrs (variable)

Class Problem I Everyone: Choose a color from the list below: Green, Blue, Red, Yellow, Black and type it on your notebook Let us select a random variable sample from this population (you all!!) Let us count the frequency for each selected color Color Frequency Green Blue Red Yellow Black Draw a representative histogram for the variable frequency of the listed colors (Use Excel to draw it, HW1-B) Dr. Alkilany 2012

Class Problem II 1. Use the data above to construct a frequency table A school nurse weighed 30 students in Year 10. Their weights (in kg) were recorded as follows: 50 52 53 54 55 65 60 70 48 63 74 40 46 59 68 44 47 56 49 58 63 66 68 61 57 58 62 52 56 58 1. Use the data above to construct a frequency table Range = 74-40=34 Let width of class interval =5 #intervals=34/5=7 There are 7 class intervals.  This is reasonable for the given data. The frequency table is as follows: 2. Complete the table to calculate: cumulative frequency, relative frequencies, cumulative relative frequencies (HW1-C)

Lecture 3 Descriptive Statistics Biostatistics Lecture 3 Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive Statistics With interval scale (continuous measurement) data, there are two aspects to the figures that we should be trying to describe: How large are they? ‘indicator of central tendency’ How variable are they? ‘indicator of dispersion’ FBG for two sets of patients as follows: Set A: 84, 85,89, 89, 93, 94. Set B:72, 82,89, 89, 96, 106. which is larger? Which is more variable? ‘indicator of central tendency’ describes any statistic that is used to indicate an average value around which the data are clustered Three possible indicators of central tendency are in common use – the mean, median and mode. Dispersion Central tendency Dr. Alkilany 2012

Mean The usual approach to showing the central tendency of a set of data is to quote the average or the ‘mean’. Example: Potency data of different vaccine batches. Each batch is intended to be of equal potency, but some manufacturing variability is unavoidable. A series of 10 batches has been analyzed and the results are shown in the following table: Sum = 991.5 n=10 Mean=99.15 Dr. Alkilany 2012

Types of Mean Arithmetic mean Arithmetic mean Geometric Mean Harmonic mean Arithmetic mean

Arithmetic Mean Arithmetic mean represents the balance point of the distribution. Symmetrical Tail to the right Tail to the left Mean ( ) The arithmetic mean has the following properties: Uniqueness, for a given set of data there is one and only one mean. Simplicity, easily to be understood and computed. Not robust to extreme values, it is affected by each value in the data. e.g. 5,10,15: mean=10…………..5,10,150: mean=55

Geometric Mean Geometric Mean: Is the anti-log of the average of the logarithms of the observations. Example, for the values 50, 100, 200 Geometric mean = Antilog[(log50+log100+log200)/3]=100 while the arithmetic mean is 116.67. Is meaningful for data with logarithmic relationships as in the case of the current procedure in bioequivalence studies where the ratios of log-transformed parameters are compared (log (AUC), log(Cmax)). Dr. Alkilany 2012

Harmonic Mean Harmonic Mean: Is the appropriate mean following reciprocal transformation. Example, the half-lives of a certain drug in 3 subjects were 2, 4, 8 hrs. determine the harmonic mean half-life for this drug? While the arithmetic mean is 4.667 hrs.

Median The point that divides the distribution into two equal parts, or the point between the upper and lower halves of the distribution. Accordingly, if we have a finite number of values, then the median is the value that divides those values into two parts such that the number of values equal to or greater than the median is equal to the number of values equal to or less than the median. 7 variables 7 variables Median Dr. Alkilany 2012

Median (example) Fifteen patients were provided with their drugs in a child-proof container of a design that they had not previously experienced. The time it took each patient to open the container was measured. The results are shown below. The mean = 7.09 s, Is this the most representative/descriptive figure? Some outliers shifted the mean and thus median can tell us better information in this case Values are clustering here

Median Most patients have got the idea more or less straight away and have taken only 2–5 s to open the container. However, four seem to have got the wrong end of the stick and have ended up taking anything up to 25 s. These four have contributed a disproportionate amount of time (65.6 s) to the overall total. This has then increased the mean to 7.09 s. We would not consider a patient who took 7.09 s to be remotely typical. In fact they would be distinctly slow.

Median (other example) This problem of mean values being disproportionately affected by a minority of outliers arises quite frequently in biological and medical research. A useful approach in such a case is to use the median. eg: Blood Glucose Level (mg/dl): 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 84, 86, 86, 180 Mean: 93 Median: 84 The outlier 180 shifted the mean to higher value, which is not descriptive for the data set in this case!! Values are clustering here outlier Median Mean

Median (how to determine it in ordered array?) When n is an odd number, then the median is the value number (n+1)/2 in an ordered array Example, what is the median for the following data set: 10, 15, 12, 25, 20. Rank the data: 10, 12, 15, 20, 25. The median is the value number (n+1)/2 (5+1)/2=3rd so the median is 15. When n is an even number, then the median is the mean of the two middle values (n/2)th and ((n/2) + 1)th in an ordered array . 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 5 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 The median is the average of (n/2)th and the (n/2 + 1)th values: 3rd and 4th (15+20)/2= 17.5

Robustness to extreme values Mean Vs. Median Properties Mean Median Uniqueness Yes Simplicity Robustness to extreme values No The median is robust to extreme outliers. The term ‘robust’ is used to indicate that a statistic or a procedure will continue to give a reasonable outcome even if some of the data are aberrant. eg. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 median=6 2, 4, 6, 8, 1000 median=6 If last variable increased to 1000 instead of 10, the median will stay the same (6), while the the mean would be hugely inflated!!!!

Mode Mode: value which occurs most frequently. If all values are different there is no mode and a set of values may have more than one mode. Used for quick estimation and for identifying the most common observation. Properties: Not unique Simple Not robust, less stable than the median and the mean. Dr. Alkilany 2012

Mode The condition of sixty patients with arthritis is recorded using a global assessment variable. A positive score indicates an improvement and a negative one a deterioration in the patient’s condition after treatment. The mean (0.77) [Do you think the mean is the best descriptive parameter for these data? Dr. Alkilany 2012

Mode A histogram of the above data shows that there are two distinct sub-populations. Slightly under half the patients have improved quality of life, but for the remainder, their lives are actually made considerably worse. Dr. Alkilany 2012

Mode Neither the mean nor the median indicator remotely describes the situation. The mean is particularly unhelpful as it indicates a value that is very untypical – very few patients show changes close to zero. We need to describe the fact that in this case, there are two distinct groups. The data consisted of values clustered around some central points. Dr. Alkilany 2012

Mode Data distribution can be ‘unimodal’ or ‘polymodal’ in the case with several clustering. If we want to be more precise, we use terms such as bimodal or trimodal to describe the exact number of clusters. Dr. Alkilany 2012

How mean, median, and mode are related? For symmetric distributions: the mean and median are equal For skewed distributions with a single mode the three measures differ Dr. Alkilany 2012

How mean, median, and mode are related? For skewed distributions with a single mode the three measures differ: mean>median>mode (positively skewed distributions) mean<median<mode (negatively skewed distributions) Dr. Alkilany 2012

Measures of central tendency for grouped data Calculate the mean. median, and mode.

Lecture 4 Descriptive Statistics “Indicators of dispersion” Biostatistics Lecture 4 Descriptive Statistics “Indicators of dispersion” Dr. Alkilany 2012

Indicators of dispersion If all observations are the same, there is no variability. If they are not all the same, then dispersion is present in the data. Variation is an inherent characteristic of experimental observations due to several reasons. it is always important to get an estimate of how much given objects tend to differ from that central tendency In any experiment, variation will depend on: The instrument used for analysis. The analyst performing the assay. The particular sample chosen. Unidentified error commonly known as noise. Dispersion (variability) Central tendency Dr. Alkilany 2012

Indicators of dispersion (why we need them?) 1. A, B, C have the same mean Based on similarity of the mean, can we say the data sets are the same? What is the differences between these data sets? How we can describe the (differences)? A B C Dr. Alkilany 2012 Dr. Alkilany 2012

Indicators of dispersion Standard deviation Coefficient of variation Variance Quartiles Box and whisker plot Dr. Alkilany 2012

Standard deviation Alpha Bravo Mean~250 mg/tablet Mean~250 mg/tablet Two tabletting machines producing erythromycin tablets with a nominal content of 250 mg. 500 tablets are randomly selected from each machine and their erythromycin contents was assayed. Mean~250 mg/tablet Mean~250 mg/tablet Although tablets from both machines had equal mean, do you think the two machine still differ? How? Dr. Alkilany 2012

Standard deviation The two machines are very similar in terms of average drug content for the tablets, both producing tablets with a mean very close to 250 mg. However, the two products clearly differ. With the Alpha machine, there is a considerable proportion of tablets with a content differing by more than 20 mg from the nominal dose (i.e. below 230 mg or above 270 mg), whereas with the Bravo machine, such outliers are much rarer. An ‘indicator of dispersion’ is required in order to convey this difference in variability and to decide which one has better performance!! Dr. Alkilany 2012

Let us go back to tabletting machines (raw data)! Standard deviation This is the standard deviation (SD) for the sample For population it is usually donated : σ Same unit of the mean Standard deviation is a widely used measure of variability and central dispersion Let us go back to tabletting machines (raw data)! Dr. Alkilany 2012

Standard deviation Xi __ X= Dr. Alkilany 2012

Standard deviation The Alpha machine produces rather variable tablets and so several of the tablets deviate considerably from the overall mean. These relatively large figures then feed through the rest of the calculation, producing a high final SD (8.72 mg). In contrast, the Bravo machine is more consistent and individual tablets never have a drug content much above or below the overall average. The small figures in the column of individual deviations, leading to a lower SD (3.78 mg). Dr. Alkilany 2012

Standard deviation Reporting the SD: The  symbol is used in reporting the SD The symbol  reasonably interpreted as meaning ‘more or less’.  is used to indicate variability. With the tablets from our two machines, we would report their drug contents as: Alpha machine: 248.78.72 mg (MeanSD mg) Bravo machine: 251.13.78 mg (MeanSD mg) The figures quoted before summarize the true situation. The two machines produce tablets with almost identical mean contents, but those from the Alpha machine are two to three times more variable. Dr. Alkilany 2012

Standard deviation and Coefficient of variation - Elephant tail=150±10 cm - Mouse tail=7±3 cm With this in mind, which is more variable: the elephant tail length results or the one for the mouse? Elephant tail: CV=10/150x100=6.7% Mouse tail: CV= 3/7x100=42.8% Coefficient of variation (CV) expresses variation relative to the magnitude of data Useful to compare variation in two or more sets of data with different mean values CV is has no unit (it is a ratio!) Dr. Alkilany 2012

Variance The Variance: 2 (population) or S2 (sample) is a measure of spread that is related to the deviations of the data values from their mean. Unit: same as mean but squared. If mean in mg, variance will be in mg2 Population sample Dr. Alkilany 2012

Quartiles Q2 Median Q1 Q3 Quartiles: the three points that divide the data set into four equal groups, each representing a fourth of the population being sampled The median= Q2 First Quartile Q1 cuts off lowest 25% of data 25th percentile Second Quartile Q2 cuts data set in half 50th percentile Third Quartile Q3 cuts off highest 25% of data, or lowest 75% 75th percentile Dr. Alkilany 2012

Interquartile range: difference between the upper and lower quartiles IQR= (Q3 – Q1) Dr. Alkilany 2012

Finding Quartiles To find the quartiles for a set of data, do the following: Arrange the data from smallest to highest (ordered array) Locate the median (Q2) The half to the left: locate their median (Q1) The half to the right: Locate their median (Q3) Half to the left Median Half to the right Q1 Q2 Q3 Dr. Alkilany 2012

Finding Quartiles Example with odd (n) Times needed for 15 tablets to disintegrate in minutes: 5, 10 10 10 10 12 15 20 20 25 30 30 40 40 60 Data is already in an order from smallest to highest Median is the (n+1/2)th=8th=20 (in bold red) For the half to the right: n=7, median=4th=10 minutes For the half to the right: n=7, median=4th=30 minutes Q1=10 minutes; Q2= 20 minutes; Q3=30 minutes. IQR=Q3-Q1=20 minutes This means that 25% of tablets need less than 10 minutes to disintegrate. Also 50% of tablets need 20 minutes to disintegrate. Before 30 minutes, 75% of all tables were disintegrated. 25% only of these tablets need more than 30 minutes to disintegrate. This question can come in this form Disintegration time (min) Frequency 5 1 10 4 12 15 20 25 2 30 40 60 Total Dr. Alkilany 2012

Finding Quartiles Example with even (n) Times needed for 20 capsules to disintegrate in minutes: 5, 10, 10, 15, 15, 15, 15, 20, 20, 20, 25, 30, 30 40, 40, 45, 60, 60, 65, 85 Data is already in an order from smallest to highest Median is the mean of the two middle values (n/2)th and ((n/2) + 1)th (in bold red)=10th and 11th=(20+25)/2= 22.5 For the half to the right: n=10, median=mean of 5th & 6th=15 minutes For the half to the right: n=10, median=mean of 5th & 6th=42.5 Q1=15minutes; Q2= 22.5 minutes; Q3=42.5 minutes. IRQ=?? Disintegration time (min) Frequency 5 1 10 2 15 4 20 3 25 30 40 45 60 65 85 Total Dr. Alkilany 2012

Quartiles Consider the elimination half-lives of two synthetic steroids have been determined using two groups, each containing 15 volunteers. The results are shown in the following table with the values ranked from lowest to highest for each steroid. Dr. Alkilany 2012

Quartiles and IQR as a measurement for data spread The IQR for the half life of steroid 2 is only half that for steroid 1, duly reflecting its less variable nature. Just as the median is a robust indicator of central tendency, the interquartile range is a robust indicator of dispersion. The interquartile range is a more useful measure of spread than range as it describes the middle 50% of the data values and thus less affected by outliers. 

Box and whisker plot A box-and-whisker plot can be useful for handling many data values. It shows only certain statistics rather than all the data. Five-number summary is another name for the visual representations of the box-and-whisker plot. The five-number summary consists of the median, the quartiles, and the smallest and greatest values in the distribution (not including outliers). Immediate visuals of a box-and-whisker plot are the center, the spread, and the overall range of distribution.

Box and whisker plot The first step in constructing a box-and-whisker plot is to first find the median (Q2), the lower quartile (Q1) and the upper quartile (Q3) of a given set of data. Example: The following set of numbers are weights of 10 patients in hospital (kgs): 75 1 62 Smallest (S) 2 67 78 3 73 Q1 96 4 5 Median=78.5 (Q2) 93 6 79 85 7 81 8 Q3 9 10 Largest (L) S L Q3 Q1 Q2

Outliers Outliers (extreme values) are values that are much bigger or smaller (distant) than the rest of the data. In order to be an outlier, the data value must be: larger than Q3 by at least 1.5 times the interquartile range (IQR), or smaller than Q1 by at least 1.5 times the IQR. Represented by a dot on the box and whisker plot