Methods of Visualization

Descriptive Statistics

Statistical methods used to summarize and describe the main features of a data set.

Measures of Central Tendency

Statistics that describe the center of a data set, including mean, median, and mode.

Measures of Variability

Statistics that describe the dispersion or spread of a data set, such as range and standard deviation.

Standard Deviation

A measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values.

Frequency Distribution

A way to organize data to show how often each value occurs.

Grouped Frequency Distribution

A frequency distribution in which data are binned into ranges.

Histogram

A graphical representation of the distribution of numerical data, similar to a bar graph.

Cumulative Frequency Curve

A line graph showing the cumulative frequency of each range of data.

Stem-and-Leaf Plot

A method of displaying quantitative data in which the stem is the leading digit(s) and the leaf is the last digit.

Box-and-Whisker Plot

A graphical representation that summarizes data based on a five-number summary: minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, and maximum.

Interquartile Range (IQR)

A measure of statistical dispersion, it is the difference between the first and third quartiles.

Normal Distribution

A bell-shaped distribution where most values cluster around a central peak, with symmetrical tails.

Bimodal Distribution

A distribution with two different modes or peaks.

Positively Skewed Distribution

A distribution with a long tail on the right side, indicating that there are a few extreme high values.

Negatively Skewed Distribution

A distribution with a long tail on the left side, indicating that there are a few extreme low values.

Outlier

An extremely high or low value in a data set that differs significantly from other observations.

Mean

The average value of a set of numbers, calculated by dividing the sum of the values by the number of values.

Median

The middle value of a data set when the values are arranged in ascending order.

Mode

The value or values that occur most frequently in a data set.

Bin Range

The intervals used to group continuous data in a frequency distribution or histogram.