Using Box Plots

The box plot, or box and whisker plot, displays data pooled from multiple sources into one visual, helping you make data-driven decisions. You can use box blots to visualize how data is distributed across an axis or over time. For example, a box plot can show the number of printer errors encountered over a 7-day time period.

Box plot

Box plots detail information in quarters:

  • Minimum – The lowest data point excluding outliers.
  • Maximum – The highest data point excluding outliers.
  • Median – The middle value of the dataset.
  • First Quartile – The middle value between the smallest number and the median of the dataset. The first quartile does not include the minimum or the median.
  • Third Quartile – The middle value between the largest number and the median of the dataset. The third quartile does not include the maximum or the median.

Outliers are extreme data points that are not included in the calculation of the key values in a box plot. Because outliers are calculated separately, their data points do not appear immediately after a box plot is created.

Box plots can display up to 10,000 data points.

To create a box plot:
  1. Click Dashboards tab, the Dashboards tab.
  2. Click Dashboard Designer, in the bottom-left corner.
  3. On the Analyses dialog, click New analysis or click Options button, the Options button, next to an existing analysis and select Edit.
  4. On the analysis page, click , the Add visual button, on the toolbar.
    Analysis page - Create a visual
  5. Click the Box plot icon.
    Box plot icon
  6. Add data to the visual by dragging fields from the Data panel to the appropriate field wells in the Visuals panel:
    1. Drag at least one measure to the Value field well.
    2. Drag a dimension to the Group by field well.
    3. Add drill-down layers by dragging one or more additional fields to the Group by field well.
  7. Customize the appearance of the visual in the Properties panel on the right.
    1. Under Display Settings, format the title and subtitle.
      For more information, see Formatting Titles and Subtitles in Visuals.
    2. Under Box plot, specify whether to fill the boxes with color, include outliers, or display all the data points.
    3. Under X-axis and Y-axis, configure the axes, the grid lines, and the range and scale.
      For more information, see Formatting Axes and Grid Lines in Visuals and Configuring Range and Scale in Visuals.
    4. Under Reference lines, add reference lines if there are other values that you want to display along with the chart data.
      For more information, see Adding Reference Lines to Visuals.
    5. Under Legend, format the legend.
      For more information, see Formatting Legends in Visuals.
Parent topic: Creating Visuals