MLS-C01 Exploratory Data Analysis Practice Question
A data scientist is working with a dataset that contains both numerical and categorical features. During EDA, they want to understand the relationship between a categorical feature with 10 unique values and the target variable. Which visualization is most appropriate?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Box plot
A box plot is appropriate here because it displays the distribution of a numerical target variable across different categories of a categorical feature, allowing comparison of medians, quartiles, and outliers for each of the 10 categories. Option A is incorrect because a heatmap is typically used to show the correlation between numerical variables or the intensity of two categorical variables, not the relationship between a categorical feature and a target. Option C is incorrect because a histogram shows the distribution of a single numerical variable and cannot incorporate categorical groupings. Option D is incorrect because a scatter plot visualizes the relationship between two numerical variables, making it unsuitable when one variable is categorical.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Heatmap
Why it's wrong here
Heatmaps typically show correlation between numerical features.
- ✓
Box plot
Why this is correct
Box plot shows target distribution across categories.
- ✗
Histogram
Why it's wrong here
Histogram shows distribution of a single numerical feature.
- ✗
Scatter plot
Why it's wrong here
Scatter plots are for two numerical features.
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