Question

Male and female high school students reported how many hours they worked each week in summer jobs. The data is represented in the following box plots.
Identify any values of data that may affect the statistical measures of center and spread.

Answer 1

The biggest key here is identifying outliers. Outliers can pull measures of center either up or down drastically.

Notice how the males have a VERY low outlier. This will pull the mean down severely and create a much larger range, or spread.

The females have a median of about 12 hours, but have an upper extreme of 19, which compareatively is very high. This creates a larger range as well.