The height of the box tells us about the spread in the data.It also helps us see clearly whether the dataset is skewed. The length of the bottom whisker tells us about the distance between the median and the minimum value.The tip of the bottom whisker represents the minimum value in the dataset.Let us take a closer look at the various indicators in a box plot and what each one stands for. Dissecting a Box PlotĪs mentioned earlier, the box plot contains five key indicators. You can find outliers and tell if the data is symmetric or skewed.īox plots are useful for comparing different data distributions particularly when the datasets are very large. It helps you interpret the data distribution easily using five (5) key indicators. It summarizes data using five (5) key indicators – minimum value, maximum value, first quartile, second quartile (median), and third quartile. The box plot is very useful especially when you need to visualize the distribution of a given dataset and see the range through which it spans. In some cases, there are no whiskers or only one whisker. The whiskers of the box plot are lines that indicate the minimum and maximum values of the data distribution that are outside the box.

The box indicates the part of the data distribution that is most concentrated.

The box spans the first and third quartiles and also has a line in it that defines the median which is also the second quartile. The two major components as the nickname implies are the box and the whiskers. The box plot or “box and whisker” chart consists of two major components and divides numerical data into four parts known as “quartiles”. Here’s How to Create a Box Plot in Microsoft Excel This tutorial will take us through what a box plot really is, how to create box plots using Microsoft Excel, as well as how results can be interpreted. It proffers a cool way to visualize the summary of datasets and gain more insights into how the data is distributed. The Box plot is also known as “box and whisker chart” perhaps because of its shape and appearance. Researchers have to work with a lot of statistical data and in most cases need to find measures of central tendency like the mean or median of a data set, measures of dispersion like range and variance, or signs of skewness.Ĭreating a Box Plot in Microsoft Excel comes in very handy as is makes easy to quickly identify some of these parameters in a visual summary without hassles.

Excel box and whisker 2016