A box and whisker plot is a graphical method of displaying variation in a set of data. In most cases a histogram provides a sufficient display; however, a box and whisker plot can provide additional detail while allowing multiple sets of data to be displayed in the same graph. Some types are called box and whisker plots with outliers.
Box and whisker plots are very effective and easy to read. They summarize data from multiple sources and display the results in a single graph. Box and whisker plots allow for comparison of data from different categories for easier, more effective decision-making.
Use box and whisker plots when you have multiple data sets from independent sources that are related to each other in some way. Examples include test scores between schools or classrooms, data from before and after a process change, similar features on one part such as cam shaft lobes, or data from duplicate machines manufacturing the same products.
A box and whisker plot is developed from five statistics.
For example, given the following 20 data points, the five required statistics are displayed.
|2nd Quartile: 124|
|3rd Quartile: 130|
Note that for a data set with an even number of values, the median is calculated as the average of the two middle values.
Here are the data represented in box and whisker plot format.
Left: The center represents the middle 50%, or 50th percentile of the data set and is derived using the lower and upper quartile values. The median value is displayed inside the "box." The maximum and minimum values are displayed with vertical lines ("whiskers") connecting the points to the center box.
Right: For comparison, a histogram of the data is also shown, showing the frequency of each value in the data set.
Suppose you wanted to compare the performance of three lathes responsible for the rough turning of a motor shaft. The design specification is 18.85 +/- 1.0 mm.
Diameter measurements from a sample of shafts taken from each roughing lathe are displayed in a box and whisker plot.
Download the box and whisker plot template. Most software packages that perform statistical analysis can create box and whisker plots.