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Home > Statistics Every Writer Should Know > The Stats Board > Discusssion

Normal distribution of data
Message posted by Lena on January 27, 2000 at 12:00 AM (ET)

Can employees' increments for a certain period follow normal distribution, even though they are based on the Hay Grading System, which emphasises increments related to productivity? That is, can these different salary increments be plotted in a normal curve?


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Re: Normal distribution of data
Message posted by harvey on January 27, 2000 at 12:00 AM (ET)

If I understand your question correctly, then the answer is 'possibly'. Normal distribution is a special case of any distribution - it just so happens that, things being as they are, it's the commonest in everyday life. Your data, plotted as a quantity against occurences of a case, will yield some sort of distribution curve - it just depends on how skewed it is.



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