Cost per No. of Applications

Scatter Plotting Variable Pairs

Tutorial Navigation

Getting StartedGeneral Instructions | Introduction to Your Study
Descriptive StatisticsHistograms | Scatter Plots | Central Tendency | Standard Deviation | Confidence Intervals
Relating VariablesCorrelation
Important ConceptsThe Normal Distribution | Z Scores | Probability Distributions
LevelsYou are currently on Scatter Plots at level 2. Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3
Next Topic Probability Distributions

Explanation

Making Scatter Plots
Generally speaking, if you make a scatter plot, you will use a computer to do it for you, but there are still some things to remember.
  • Choosing the Axes
    By convention, the independent variable is plotted along the horizontal (x) axis and the dependent variable is plotted up the vertical (y) axis. To plot a point, you simply move along the x axis to the point that corresponds to the value of your independent variable, then find the point up the y that corresponds to your dependend variable's score, and mark a spot on the graph where lines from these points meet.
  • Chart Title
    When choosing a title for a chart, say y plotted against x. That is, 'dependent variable' plotted against 'independent variable'.
Remember to label your axes, put the values along them in suitable steps, and include a title.

Exploration

This section shows you how to place points on a scatter plot.

The chart on the right will ask you to plot one point at a time on a scatter plot.

  1. Look at the chart and see what pair of values you are being asked to plot;
  2. Find the first value on the X axis;
  3. Find the second value on the Y axis;
  4. Click at the location where the lines from the two values cross;
  5. If you were right, you will be asked to plot a new point;
  6. If you were wrong, you will be asked to try again.

( You need to enable Java to see this applet. )

Application

The data from your study is plotted below.
Which variable is plotted on the x axis?   Help
Which variable is plotted on the y axis?   Help
Which variable has the highest value?   Help
Which of these is the correct title for the chart?   Help
Probability Distributions