Advantages & Disadvantages

of Dot Plots, Histograms,

and Box Plots

Warm-Up
Joshua, a sophomore at Hoover High School, usually goes to bed
around 11:00 p.m. and gets up around 8:00 a.m. to get ready for
school. That means that he gets about 9 hours of sleep on a
school night. He decided to investigate this statistical question:
How many hours per night do sophomores usually sleep when
they have school the next day?
Joshua surveyed 20 sophomores. The following data set
represents the average number of hours each student sleeps on
a school night:
{ 9 }
Make a dot plot, histogram, and box plot to display the data.

Check point!
Who would you have

surveyed to answer the

statistical question?
Which graph best illustrates

the data?

The Statistical Process

is a problem-solving process consisting of four

steps:
1. formulating a statistical question that
anticipates variability and can be answered by
data.
2. designing and implementing a plan
that collects appropriate data.
3. analyzing the data by graphical and/or
numerical methods.
4. interpreting the analysis in the context
of the original question.

Variables
Read the following statistical questions and determine

whether the question is categorical or numerical.

a. Do professors of math get paid more than professors
of science?
b. Do women live longer than men?
c. What is the language most commonly spoken at home
amongst people in South Florida?
d. What is the length of students feet in Ms. Moes
class?
e. What is the favorite sport of students at Majorly High
School?
f. What is the post code of students that attend Flamingo
Middle School?

Why is some data that

contain numbers, such
as
the post codes,
considered
categorical?

Types of Graphs:
Dot Plot

Histogram

Box Plot

Dot Plot
A dot plot is a graphic display using dots and

a simple scale to compare the frequency

within categories or groups.

Dot Plot(continued)
A dot plot is useful for relatively small sets of

data.
Dot plots clearly display clusters/gaps of data
and outliers.
In dot plots, the frequency axis is not necessary
but you need to count to find the frequency in
each stack of dots, and they can be hard to
construct and interpret for data sets with many
points.
They can be used with numerical and categorical
data.

Histogram

A histogram is a type of graph that shows the

frequency distribution of data within equal

intervals (thus, there are no spaces between
the bars).

Histogram(continued)
It shows the number of values within an

interval and not the actual values.

You can graph huge data sets easily with
histograms.
They are used only for numerical data.
You could change the intervals of the
histogram to see which gives a better
description of the data.

Box-Plots
The box plot is a standardized way of

displaying the distribution of data based on

the minimum, first quartile, median, third
quartile, and maximum of the data set.

Box-Plots(continued)
A box plot is a good way to summarize large

amounts of data.
It displays the range and distribution of data
along a number line.
Box plots provide some indication of the
datas symmetry and skew-ness.
Box plots show outliers.
Original data is not clearly shown in the box
plot; also, mean and mode cannot be
identified in a box plot.
They can be used only with numerical data.

Remember:
Graphs must always be clearly

labeled.
Changing the scales in a graph can
make the data look very different,
ultimately changing the impression
that the graph makes.
When comparing two or more sets of
data, the scales must be consistent;
otherwise, it is difficult to compare

What Graph Would You Choose?

The following lists different hypothetical data
sets. Which graphical representation would
best illustrate the data? Explain.
Comparison of the annual snow fall between
two snowboarding resorts over several years.
The amount of time spent watching TV, in
hours, of 200 participants.
Wind speed at a windmill farm over a threeweek period.
Students favorite summertime activity.