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Chapter 01-01

Categorical variables place individuals into one of several groups or categories. Bar graphs compare several quantities by comparing the heights of bars that represent those quantities. Pie charts show the distribution of a categorical variable.

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Chapter 01-01

Categorical variables place individuals into one of several groups or categories. Bar graphs compare several quantities by comparing the heights of bars that represent those quantities. Pie charts show the distribution of a categorical variable.

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api-261587850
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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CHAPTER 1

Exploring Data
1.1
Analyzing Categorical
Data
The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition
Starnes, Tabor, Yates, Moore

Bedford Freeman Worth Publishers

Analyzing Categorical Data


Learning Objectives
After this section, you should be able to:
DISPLAY categorical data with a bar graph

IDENTIFY what makes some graphs of categorical data deceptive


CALCULATE and DISPLAY the marginal distribution of a
categorical variable from a two-way table

CALCULATE and DISPLAY the conditional distribution of a


categorical variable for a particular value of the other categorical
variable in a two-way table
DESCRIBE the association between two categorical variables

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

Categorical Variables
Categorical variables place individuals into one of several groups or
categories.
Frequency Table
Format

Variable

Count of Stations

Format

Percent of Stations

Adult Contemporary

1556

Adult Contemporary

Adult Standards

1196

Adult Standards

8.6

Contemporary Hit

4.1

Contemporary Hit

569

11.2

Country

2066

Country

14.9

News/Talk

2179

News/Talk

15.7

Oldies

1060

Oldies

Religious

2014

Religious

Rock

869

Spanish Language

750

Other Formats

Values

Relative Frequency Table

Total

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

1579
13838

7.7
14.6

Rock

6.3

Count
Spanish Language
Other Formats
Total

Percent

5.4
11.4
99.9

Displaying Categorical Data


Frequency tables can be difficult to read.
Sometimes is is easier to analyze a distribution by displaying it with a
bar graph or pie chart.
Frequency Table
Count
of Stations

2500
2000

Format

1000
500
0

Count of Stations

Format

Adult Contemporary

1556

Adult Contemporary

Adult Standards

1196

11%Standards 11%
Adult

Contemporary Hit

1500

Relative Frequency Table


Percent
of Stations

569

5%

Contemporary Hit

Country

2066

News/Talk

2179

News/Talk

Oldies

1060

Oldies

Religious

2014

6%

15%

Religious

869

Rock

Spanish Language

750

8%
Spanish Language
16%

Total

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

1579
13838

11.2
Adult Standards
8.6
Contemporary hit
4.1

9%

Country
14.9

Country

Rock

Other Formats

Percent of Stations
Adult Contemporary

Other Formats
Total

4%

News/Talk
15.7
Oldies 7.7

15%

14.6
Religious
Rock

6.3

5.4
Spanish
11.4
Other
99.9

Graphs: Good and Bad


Bar graphs compare several quantities by comparing the heights of
bars that represent those quantities. Our eyes, however, react to the
area of the bars as well as to their height.
When you draw a bar graph, make the bars equally wide.
It is tempting to replace the bars with pictures for greater eye appeal.
Dont do it!

There are two important lessons to keep in mind:


(1) beware the pictograph, and
(2) watch those scales.

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

Two-Way Tables and Marginal Distributions


When a dataset involves two categorical variables, we begin by
examining the counts or percents in various categories for one of the
variables.
A two-way table describes two categorical variables,
organizing counts according to a row variable and a
column variable.
Young adults by gender and chance of getting rich

Female

Male

Total

Almost no chance

96

98

194

Some chance, but probably not

426

286

712

A 50-50 chance

696

720

1416

A good chance

663

758

1421

Almost certain

486

597

1083

Total

2367

2459

4826

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

What are the variables


described by this
two-way table?
How many young
adults were surveyed?

Two-Way Tables and Marginal Distributions


The marginal distribution of one of the categorical variables in a twoway table of counts is the distribution of values of that variable among
all individuals described by the table.

Note: Percents are often more informative than counts, especially


when comparing groups of different sizes.

How to examine a marginal distribution:

1)Use the data in the table to calculate the marginal


distribution (in percents) of the row or column totals.
2)Make a graph to display the marginal distribution.

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

Two-Way Tables and Marginal Distributions


Examine the marginal
distribution of chance
of getting rich.

Young adults by gender and chance of getting rich


Female

Male

Total

Almost no chance

96

98

194

Some chance, but probably not

426

286

712

A 50-50 chance

696

720

1416

A good chance

663

758

1421

Almost certain

486

597

1083

Total

2367

2459

4826

Chance of being wealthy by age 30


Percent

Almost no
chance

194/4826 = 4.0%

Some chance

712/4826 = 14.8%

A 50-50 chance

1416/4826 = 29.3%

A good chance

1421/4826 = 29.4%

Almost certain

1083/4826 = 22.4%

Percent

Response

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Almost
none

Some
chance

50-50
chance

Good
chance

Almost
certain

Survey Response
The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

Relationships Between Categorical Variables


A conditional distribution of a variable describes the values of that
variable among individuals who have a specific value of another
variable.

How to examine or compare conditional distributions:


1) Select the row(s) or column(s) of interest.
2) Use the data in the table to calculate the conditional
distribution (in percents) of the row(s) or column(s).
3) Make a graph to display the conditional distribution.
Use a side-by-side bar graph or segmented bar
graph to compare distributions.

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

Relationships Between Categorical Variables


Calculate the conditional
distribution of opinion
among males. Examine the
relationship between gender
and opinion.

Young adults by gender and chance of getting rich


Female

Male

Total

Almost no chance

96

98

194

Some chance, but probably not

426

286

712

A 50-50 chance

696

720

1416

A good chance

663

758

1421

Almost certain

486

597

1083

Total

2367

2459

4826

Chance of being wealthy by age 30

Male

Female

Almost no chance

98/2459 =
4.0%

96/2367 =
4.1%

286/2459 =
11.6%

426/2367 =
18.0%

720/2459 =
29.3%

696/2367 =
29.4%

758/2459 =
30.8%

663/2367 =
28.0%

597/2459 =
24.3%

486/2367 =
20.5%

Some chance
A 50-50 chance
A good chance
Almost certain

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

100%
90%
80%
70%

Percent

Response

Almost certain

60%
50%

Good chance

40%
30%

50-50 chance

20%
10%

Some chance

0%

Males
Opinion

Females
Almost no
chance

10

Relationships Between Categorical Variables


Can we say there is an
association between gender and
opinion in the population of
young adults?

Making this determination


requires formal inference, which
will have to wait a few chapters.

Caution!
Even a strong association between two categorical variables can
be influenced by other variables lurking in the background.

The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

11

Data Analysis: Making Sense of Data


Section Summary
In this section, we learned how to
DISPLAY categorical data with a bar graph
IDENTIFY what makes some graphs of categorical data

deceptive
CALCULATE and DISPLAY the marginal distribution of a
categorical variable from a two-way table

CALCULATE and DISPLAY the conditional distribution of a


categorical variable for a particular value of the other categorical
variable in a two-way table

DESCRIBE the association between two categorical variables


The Practice of Statistics, 5th Edition

12

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