Describing variability

Link a question to analysis

Instructional and practice activities in this section are designed to help students

1. Learn to recognize what kind of question is being asked

Questions about variability
Questions about comparing two or more groups
Questions about correlation between two numeric variables
Questions about a variable changing through time
Questions about how a whole is proportioned into parts

2. Choose a graph type that is appropriate for the question asked

Frequency plots (dot plot, box and whisker plot, histogram) to show variability in data
Bar graph to compare two groups in a summary value (e.g. a mean, total, or percent)
Scatter plot to show correlation between two numeric factors
Line graph to show how a variable changes through time
Pie chart or stacked bar graph to show the proportions of parts of a whole

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