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> What I don't see is anyone saying "box plots are useful because they're the best kind of chart for [specific use case]".

Box plots are useful because they're the best kind of chart for when I have multiple populations and I want to quickly glance whether it's reasonable to assume that the populations have the same median, or not (you do that comparing not just the medians of the populations but also the shaded areas)



If you're only comparing medians, then just plot the medians. Why a box plot with the quartiles?


Ok, so the difference between medians is 42.7. Is that a lot or a little?


I can't see why a jitter plot with dark lines marking the quartile wouldn't be strictly better for this.


That's just a box plot with extra steps.

Sure, the jitter plot provides more data, but if you only make use of the quartiles anyway, that extra data is but an unnecessary distraction.




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