| For a scatterplot | For a barchart |
|---|---|
| Choose x and y | Same! |
| Label x, y, and give a title | Same! (except x usually has no units) |
| Decide minimum and maximum values for x and y | Only for y — and include the error bars |
| Decide distance for ticks | Only for y |
| Make a legend | Same |
| Add data, using dots | Use rectangles, not dots |
Choosing between SD and SE
| SD | SE |
|---|---|
| Measures how far members of the population deviate from the average | Measures how far your estimate of the mean (from a sample) probably deviates from the population mean |
| Quantifies the population | Quantifies your experiment |
| Does NOT depend on sample size | DOES depend on sample size (a lot!) |
| Use to characterize the population | Use to test your results |
Learning outcomes
Now that you have worked through this module, you should be able to:
- Determine whether a bar chart or scatter plot is the best type of graph for the data you have.
- Construct a bar chart.
- Add error bars to a bar chart using either the standard deviation or standard error.
- Determine, which of the standard deviation or the standard error is a more appropriate measure to describe the variability in a particular circumstance.
If you want a printer-friendly version of this module, you can find it here in a Microsoft Word document. This printer-friendly version should be used only to review, as it does not contain any of the interactive material, and only a skeletal version of problems solved in the module.