Statistics: Displaying Data: Choosing the Right Graph
Select graphs that match the data and purpose
Statistics: Displaying Data: Choosing the Right Graph
Select graphs that match the data and purpose
Statistics - Grade 6-8
- 1
A student records the temperature outside at noon every day for 14 days. Which type of graph would best show how the temperature changed over time?
Look for words that describe time, such as days, months, or years.
A line graph would be best because it shows change over time clearly, with each day in order on the horizontal axis. - 2
A class surveys students about their favorite school lunch: pizza, tacos, sandwiches, salad, or pasta. Which type of graph would best compare the number of votes for each lunch?
A bar graph would be best because it compares counts across separate categories. - 3
A store manager wants to show what percent of total monthly sales came from clothing, shoes, accessories, and sports gear. Which type of graph should the manager use?
Think about a graph that shows percentages adding to 100 percent.
A circle graph should be used because it shows how categories make up parts of one whole total. - 4
A teacher measures the heights of 30 students and groups the heights into intervals such as 50-54 inches, 55-59 inches, and 60-64 inches. Which type of graph would best display the distribution?
Intervals of numbers often work well with a histogram.
A histogram would be best because it shows how numerical data are distributed across intervals. - 5
A student wants to show the exact number of books read by each student in a small reading group. The numbers are 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, and 10. Which graph would work well and why?
A dot plot would work well because the data set is small and it can show each exact value with dots above a number line. - 6
A coach records each athlete's practice time and race time to see whether more practice is related to faster race times. Which graph would best show the relationship between the two numerical variables?
Use this graph when each data point has two numbers.
A scatter plot would be best because it shows the relationship between two numerical variables, practice time and race time. - 7
A science club wants to compare the typical amount of rainfall in four cities and also show the spread of the rainfall data for each city. Which type of graph would be best?
A box plot would be best because it can compare the center and spread of numerical data for several groups. - 8
A student collected data on the favorite color of 80 students. The categories are red, blue, green, purple, yellow, and orange. Should the student use a histogram or a bar graph? Explain.
Decide whether the data are categories or numbers.
The student should use a bar graph because favorite color is categorical data. A histogram is for numerical data grouped into intervals. - 9
A family tracks its electric bill each month for one year. The family wants to see the pattern from January through December. Which graph is best?
A line graph is best because the data are ordered by time and the family wants to see a monthly pattern. - 10
A newspaper reports the results of a survey about how students get to school: bus, car, bike, walk, or train. It wants readers to compare which option is most common. Which graph is best?
For comparing separate groups, use bars.
A bar graph is best because it compares the number of students in each transportation category. - 11
A student wants to display the ages of people at a community event. The data include many ages from 1 to 85, and the student wants to show how many people are in each age range. Which graph is best?
Use intervals when there are many numerical values.
A histogram is best because the ages are numerical data and can be grouped into intervals such as 0-9, 10-19, and 20-29. - 12
A class records the number of pets owned by each student. The data are 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The teacher wants students to see every data value. Which graph is a good choice?
A dot plot is a good choice because the data set is small and each student's value can be shown as a dot. - 13
A researcher wants to show the percent of a city's land used for homes, parks, businesses, roads, and schools. Which graph is best, and what should the parts add up to?
A whole circle represents the entire city land area.
A circle graph is best because it shows parts of a whole. The percentages should add up to 100 percent. - 14
A student creates a graph with shoe size on one axis and height on the other axis for each student in the class. What type of graph is this, and what can it help show?
This is a scatter plot. It can help show whether there is a relationship between shoe size and height. - 15
A teacher has test scores from two classes and wants to compare the median, range, and overall spread of the scores. Which graph should the teacher choose?
This graph uses a box, a line for the median, and whiskers.
The teacher should choose box plots because they show the median, range, and spread of numerical data and make two groups easy to compare.