In the book Business Research Methods, Donald R. Cooper and C. William Emory present box-and-whiskers plots comparing the net profits of firms in five different industry sectors. Each plot (for a sector) was constructed using net profit figures for a sample of firms from the Forbes 500s. Figure 3.20 gives the five box-and-whiskers plots.
a. Using the plots in Figure 3.20, write an analysis comparing net profits for the five sectors. Compare central tendency, variability, skewness, and outliers.
b. For which sectors are net profits most variable? Least variable?
c. Which sectors provide opportunities for the highest net profits?