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Often people are interested in exact quantitative statistics like IQR, median, top/bottom deciles which are commonly represented in box plots. The alternatives are visually simpler but they contain less quantitative information.


If you want quantititive information it's better to use a table anyway - precisely because it doesn't mislead you about the internal distribution.


The alternative plots in TFA after

> Design concepts such as the ones below make more ‘visual sense’ than box plots:

present the exact same info in much less visually confusing ways, through the use of brightness (weight) and area. Just better box plots.

And of course you can always draw some lines for the quartiles on any kind of plot with a linear scale for the value.




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