THE EFFECTS OF DISPLAY CHARACTERISTICS ON THE BIAS OF ESTIMATES OF WHISKER LENGTH OF REGULAR AND NOTCHED BOXPLOTS

This study investigated the effects of display characteristics on the bias of estimates of whisker length of two different types of box-and- whisker plots. To rest the hypothesis that the bias means of estimates of whisker length were significantly different for the experimental a nd control groups, a 2.234 mixed design was utilized. Notched box-and- whisker plots and regular box-and-whisker plots were levels of the bet ween-subjects factor while between-subjects factors were the interquar tile spread, whisker length, and spatial orientation of the graphs, Re sults indicate that although there was no significant difference in th e bias means associated with the two types of plots, bias seems to be the product of a three-way interaction between spatial orientation, in terquartile spread, and whisker/spread ratio.