In data interpretation, what does a scatter plot show?

• A. Relationship between two quantitative variables
• B. Distribution of a single variable
• C. A time series of data points
• D. A histogram of data

Answer: (A)

A scatter plot shows the relationship between two quantitative variables. Each dot represents one observation’s pair of values, with one variable on the horizontal axis and the other on the vertical axis. By looking at how the dots cluster and trend, you can tell whether the variables move together (positive relationship), move in opposite directions (negative relationship), or show little to no association. The tightness of the pattern indicates how strong that relationship is, and outliers stand out as points far from the general cluster. This is different from showing the distribution of a single variable (that’s what a histogram or box plot does) and different from a time series, which tracks values over time (usually with a line graph).