Once you have your data, you may want to present it in the form of a graph. You can choose between the different types of graphs below. Decide which type of graph would best communicate your findings. Your basic choices are bar graph, line graph, pie chart, or scatter plot.
BAR GRAPH – This is the most common type for science fair projects. You may select a bar graph when your independent variable is qualitative (categories) or quantitative (numbers).
LINE GRAPH – This type of graph is most often used to show changes in the dependent variable over time or distance. For example, you could show how the temperature of hot water placed in different containers changes over time.
PIE CHART – Pie charts are good for projects that have qualitative independent variables (categories such as color) and have data that can be expressed as percentages of the total.
SCATTER PLOT – This type of graph is less common. It is often used to determine if two variables are related when there is not a clear choice of independent and dependent variables (for example wind speed and water temperature). This option typically requires much more data than the others to observe a trend.
Scatter plots are also called X-Y plots