Figure 1
Figure 2These figures represent the distribution of scores on the measure of obsessive-compulsive (OC) traits we are using at the Ontario Science Centre, based on a parent reports of their children. The horizontal ("X") axis represents various total scores on the questionnaire which contains multiple items quantifiying different types of OC traits. The vertical ("Y") axis shows how often these scores occur in the population.
The distribution of scores approaches a normal distribution (see blog entry dated September 23, 2009 for an explanation of a normal distribution) but is slightly "skewed" leftward (or downward). However, despite the fact that parents tend to report low scores on this measure, there is still a very wide range of scores and quite a few children with high levels of OC traits.
In Figure 1, the total distribution of scores is illustrated.
In Figure 2, different curves are shown for boys and girls. Boys, shown in blue, are found to have slightly lower scores than girl, shown in red.
