An outlier is an unusually large or small observation. Outliers can have a disproportionate effect on statistical results, such as the mean, which can result in misleading interpretations.
For example, a data set includes the values: 1, 2, 3, and 34. The mean value, 10, which is higher than the majority of the data (1, 2, 3), is greatly affected by the extreme data point, 34. In this case, the mean value makes it seem that the data values are higher than they really are. You should investigate outliers because they can provide useful information about your data or process. Often, it is easiest to identify outliers by graphing the data.
« Back to Glossary Index