Graphical Display Examples

1. Frequency distributions
While frequency distributions are not graphical in nature, they do provide a useful means of
displaying raw scores in a distribution of scores. For example, below are final course average grades in an
introductory educational research class (rounded to the nearest whole number).

Final Course Average Grades in Introductory Educational Research

85 74 64 93 65 83 81 84 72
91 74 75 84 92 87 82 79 86
88 93 85 72 67 75 96 78 69

The numbers above present a disorganized picture of class performance, but they can be presented
in a manner that is easier to understand such as through frequency displays as illustrated below.
This first example shows two command lines for the statistical analysis software Stata (for more
information on this software, see www.stata.com). These commands were used to open a data file and to
generate a frequency table with frequencies, relative frequencies, and cumulative frequencies.

. use "C:\Documents\GSU\COURSES\EDUR 8131\graphical display examples.dta",

clear
. tabulate Grade

Final |
Course |
Grade |
Average | Freq. Percent Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
64 | 1 3.70 3.70
65 | 1 3.70 7.41
67 | 1 3.70 11.11
69 | 1 3.70 14.81
72 | 2 7.41 22.22
74 | 2 7.41 29.63
75 | 2 7.41 37.04
78 | 1 3.70 40.74
79 | 1 3.70 44.44
81 | 1 3.70 48.15
82 | 1 3.70 51.85
83 | 1 3.70 55.56
84 | 2 7.41 62.96
85 | 2 7.41 70.37
86 | 1 3.70 74.07
87 | 1 3.70 77.78
88 | 1 3.70 81.48
91 | 1 3.70 85.19
92 | 1 3.70 88.89
93 | 2 7.41 96.30
96 | 1 3.70 100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
Total | 27 100.00

The next display shows these same data, but now these data are grouped by letter grade ranges,
i.e., 60 to 69 is D, 70 to 79 is C, and so on. This grouped frequency display allows one to quickly
determine performance levels of the class by grade ranges. For example, 5 students earned A's (5 students
in the average grade range of 90 to 99), 10 students earned B's, etc.
. egen Grade_cat = cut(Grade), at(50 60 70 80 90 100)
. tabulate Grade_cat

-> tabulation of Grade_cat

Grade_cat | Freq. Percent Cum.

------------+-----------------------------------
60 | 4 14.81 14.81
70 | 8 29.63 44.44
80 | 10 37.04 81.48
90 | 5 18.52 100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
Total | 27 100.00

2. Stem-and-leaf Displays
Similar to frequency displays are stem-and-leaf displays. These displays show frequency by
building “leaves” from the raw scores. The longer the leaf, the greater the frequency associated with that
set of scores. Reading the display below, note that one student scored a 64, which is displayed as “6*|
4,” and three students scored between 65 and 69. Their specific scores were 65, 67, and 69, and these are
displayed as “6. | 579.”

. stem Grade
Stem-and-leaf plot for Grade (Final Course Grade Average)

6* | 4
6. | 579
7* | 2244
7. | 5589
8* | 12344
8. | 55678
9* | 1233
9. | 6

This version shows scores grouped by letter grade ranges (e.g., 60 to 69, 70 to 79, etc.).

. stem Grade, digits(2)

Stem-and-leaf plot for Grade (Final Course Grade Average)

6* | 4579
7* | 22445589
8* | 1234455678
9* | 12336
3. Bar Charts
Bar charts are traditionally used to display frequency counts for qualitative variables. Below is an
example showing the sex distribution of students in the educational research class. As the frequency
display below the bar chart shows, there were 18 females and 9 males enrolled in the class.

Distribution of Students by Sex

20

18

16
Number of Students

14

12

10

0
Female Male

Sex of Student

. tabulate Sex

Sex of |
Student | Freq. Percent Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
f | 18 66.67 66.67
m | 9 33.33 100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
Total | 27 100.00
4. Histograms

Similar to bar charts and stem-and-leaf displays, histograms may be used to show frequency
information for quantitative variables. The primary difference between histograms and bar charts is that
histograms are designed for quantitative data so the bars are allowed to touch when consecutive scores are
presented. When gaps are present between bar in a histogram, that signals a frequency of zero for that
particular score. Below is an example of a histogram for student grades. Smooth histograms are often used
to present distributional shapes such as normal, F, t, chi-square, etc.

Distribution of Course Average Grades

2.5

2.0
Frequency of Grade

1.5

1.0

.5

0.0
60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

Student Course Average Grade

5. Pie Charts
Pie charts are another commonly used tool to display distributions. Pie charts can be used to
display both qualitative and quantitative data. The first example below shows course letter grade
distribution and the second shows sex distribution.

Letter Grade Distribution in

Educational Research Course

A D

4.00 / 14.8%
5.00 / 18.5%

8.00 / 29.6%
B

10.00 / 37.0%

Distribution of Students by Sex

Male

9.00 / 33.3%

Female

18.00 / 66.7%
6. Box-and-whisker (or simply Box) Plots
These graphs are designed to display several summary indicators of data. For example, for
females, the bottom of the box shows the score at the 25th percentile (symbolized as P25 or Q1, which is
roughly 74 in this sample); the top of the box is the 75th percentile (P75 or Q3, a score in this sample of
about 88); and the thick line in the middle of the box represents the median (50th percentile, P50 or Q2).
Note that the box is designed to describe the middle 50% of scores in the distribution.
The whiskers extending from the box may represent several different things depending upon how
they are implemented for given software. For the example listed below, the whiskers appear to show the
upper and lower range for the sample of scores. The the bottom whisker shows the lower range for the
distribution of scores (a lower score of about 64); and the top whisker shows the upper range for the
distribution of scores (a top score of about 96). In some software applications, whiskers extend to P10 and
P90, and any scores beyond this range are represented as dots. The second box plot below illustrates a
score, denoted by the black dot, that extends below the range of P10.

Box Plot of Grade Distribution by Sex

100
Final Course Grade Average

90

80

70

60
Female Male

Sex of Student
 Box Plot of Grade Distribution by Sex
(with one extreme score added)
100

Final Course Grade Average

90

80

70

60

50

40
Female Male

Sex of Student
7. Scatterplots
These graphs are useful for displaying the nature of relation between two quantitative variables.
As the first scatterplot shows, there is a positive, linear trend between scores from tests 1 and 2 in
educational research during the summer of 2003. Students who did well on test 1 tended also to perform
well on test 2; similarly, those who performed poorly on test 1 also tended to perform poorly on test 2.
There are, however, several exceptions to this trend. Note the student who scored just under 60 for test 1,
but score over 80 for test 2. This student is the isolated dot to the left of other dots in the scatter.

Scatterplot of Test Scores from Students

in Educational Research Summer 2003
100
Summer 2003 Test 2 Scores

90

80

70

60

50
50 60 70 80 90 100

Summer 2003 Test 1 Scores

The next scatterplot, displayed below, shows information pertaining to student performance on a test in
educational research. The two variables considered are the average number of seconds spent per item
completing the test and test score. The scatter of data to the right of the graph shows a slight positive
relation between time spent on items and test score. Generally speaking, those students who spent more
time per item tended to perform better on the test, although this pattern is not strong. Most students took
between 120 and 195 seconds to answer each item (that's 2 to 3.5 minutes per item). There is one very
clear exception to these data and that exception is symbolized by a student who spent an average of 38
seconds per item and scored 98% correct on this test. This student's performance represents what is known
as an outlier, an observation that is clearly discrepant from other observations (data) in the distribution of
scores.
The next scatterplot displays data from an agricultural experiment in which grapefruit were treated with
two types of fungicides and with varying amounts of the active ingredient (copper). The outcome of
interest is the severity of the infection on grapefruit. The line in the graph represents a prediction line and
can be used to estimate the change in severity of infection according to differing amounts of copper used.