Six Sigma For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 10

Depicting and Analyzing Data through Charts and Graphs

In This Chapter

Understanding the power inherent in basic charts and graphs

Creating and analyzing variation and distributions through histograms or dot plots

Comparing distributions with box and whisker plots

Exploring variable relationships with scatter plots

Using process behavior charts to see true performance

Data are the medium in which you, as a Six Sigma practitioner, work. Therefore, how you depict and analyze your data is critical.

The most important — and often the most powerful — tools for analyzing and communicating data are graphical; they display the nitty-gritty of what’s going on in the company through pictures, charts, and graphs. These basic graphical tools, called graphs or plots, are much simpler to use than their strictly numeric counterparts (such as a table of raw data). Pictures of data often serve as a more intuitive way of gaining the same insights that you would from crunching numbers, and ...