Dot Plots

A few of the methods to display data are dot plots, bar graphs, histograms, and box plots. A display of data allows us to see patterns, predict outcomes, and gives an overview of the data.

A dot plot is a statistical chart consisting of a group of data points plotted on a simple scale. To interpret a dot plot:

Each dot can represent a single observation from a set of data, or a specified number of observations from a set of data.
The dots are stacked in a column over a category, so that the height of the column represents the relative or absolute frequency of observations in the category.
The pattern of data in a dot plot can be described in terms of symmetry and skewness only if the variable is not categorical.