If a distribution for a quantitative variable is thought to be nearly symmetric with very little variation, and a boxplot is created for this distribution, which of the following is true?
A) The box will be quite wide but the whiskers will be very short.
B) The whiskers will be about half as long as the box is wide.
C) There will be no whiskers.
D) The lower whisker will be the same length as the upper whisker.
E) The left and right-hand edges of the box will be approximately equal distance from the median.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When a distribution is nearly symmetric with very little variation, the boxplot will have a box that is approximately the same distance from the median on both sides. Therefore, the left and right-hand edges of the box will be approximately equal distance from the median. Additionally, there will be whiskers that extend out from the box, but they will not be very long because there is little variation in the distribution.

If a Distribution for a Quantitative Variable Is Thought to Be