Chapter Two

Graphical
Descriptive Techniques I

2.1
Introduction & Re-cap…
Descriptive statistics involves arranging, summarizing, and
presenting a set of data in such a way that useful information
is produced.
Statistics

Data Information

Its methods make use of graphical techniques and numerical

descriptive measures (such as averages) to summarize and
present the data.

2.2
Populations & Samples

Population Sample

Subset

The graphical & tabular methods presented here apply to both entire
populations and samples drawn from populations.

2.3
Definitions…
A variable is some characteristic of a population or sample.
E.g. student grades.
Typically denoted with a capital letter: X, Y, Z…

The values of the variable are the range of possible values

for a variable.
E.g. student marks (0..100)

Data are the observed values of a variable.

E.g. student marks: {67, 74, 71, 83, 93, 55, 48}

2.4
Types of Data & Information
Data (at least for purposes of Statistics) fall into three main
groups:

Interval Data
Nominal Data
Ordinal Data

2.5
Interval Data…
Interval data
• Real numbers, i.e. heights, weights, prices, etc.
• Also referred to as quantitative or numerical.

Arithmetic operations can be performed on Interval Data,

thus its meaningful to talk about 2*Height, or Price + $1, and
so on.

2.6
Nominal Data…
Nominal Data
• The values of nominal data are categories.
E.g. responses to questions about marital status, coded
as:
Single = 1, Married = 2, Divorced = 3, Widowed = 4

These data are categorical in nature; arithmetic operations

don’t make any sense (e.g. does Widowed ÷ 2 = Married?!)

Nominal data are also called qualitative or categorical.

2.7
Ordinal Data…
Ordinal Data appear to be categorical in nature, but their
values have an order; a ranking to them:

E.g. College course rating system:

poor = 1, fair = 2, good = 3, very good = 4, excellent = 5

While its still not meaningful to do arithmetic on this data

(e.g. does 2*fair = very good?!), we can say things like:
excellent > poor or fair < very good
That is, order is maintained no matter what numeric values
are assigned to each category.
2.8
Calculations for Types of Data
As mentioned above,

• All calculations are permitted on interval data.

• Only calculations involving a ranking process are allowed for

ordinal data.

• No calculations are allowed for nominal data, save counting the

number of observations in each category.

2.9
 Example
 Example: Identify each of the following as example of nominal, ordinal
or interval data.

1. The temperature in Dhaka on any given day

2. The make (Toyota, Honda, etc.) of automobile

3. The type of book (fiction, drama, etc.)

4. The weight of a pencil

5. The brand quality of cereal

Graphical & Tabular Techniques for Nominal Data…
The only allowable calculation on nominal data is to count
the frequency of each value of the variable.

We can summarize the data in a table that presents the

categories and their counts called a frequency distribution.

A relative frequency distribution lists the categories and the

proportion with which each occurs.

2.11
Example 2.1Work Status in the GSS 2008 Survey
[GSS2008*] In the 2008 General Social Survey, 2021 people were asked the
following questions.
“Last week, were you working full time, part time, going to school, keeping
house, or what?” The responses were
1. Working full time
2. Working part time
3. Temporarily not working
4. Unemployed, laid off
5. Retired
6. School
7. Keeping house
8. Other
The responses were recorded using the codes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8,
respectively.
2.12
Frequency and Relative Frequency Distributions

2.13
 GSS 2008 Excel File-Nominal Data (Frequency-Excel
Instructions on pp 20-22)

Bar Charts are often used to display absolute frequencies…

2.14
Nominal Data (Relative Frequency)

Pie Charts show relative frequencies…

2.15
Charts
The area of a slice of a pie chart is the proportion of all the individuals
that fall into that particular category. The total percentage of all the slices
of a pie chart is 100%

Pie chart is a graphical representation of a relative frequency distribution.

Best for comparisons within the same dataset, not as useful to compare
across datasets.

Bar chart is used for frequency, but also can be used for relative measures.

Relative measures allow to make comparisons across datasets with

unequal size.

These techniques are also valid for ordinal data. (bar charts and wedges in
pie charts are arranged in ascending or descending order).
2.16
Nominal Data

The same information,

(based on the same data).
Just different presentation.

2.17
Relationship between Two Nominal Variables
So far we’ve looked at tabular and graphical techniques for
one variable.

A cross-classification table (or cross-tabulation table) is

used to describe the relationship between two nominal or
ordinal variables.

A cross-classification table lists the frequency of each

combination of the values of the two variables…

2.18
Example 2.4
In a major North American city there are four competing
newspapers: the Post, Globe and Mail, Sun, and Star.

To help design advertising campaigns, the advertising

managers of the newspapers need to know which segments
of the newspaper market are reading their papers.

A survey was conducted to analyze the relationship between

newspapers read and occupation.

2.19
Example 2.4
A sample of newspaper readers was asked to report which
newspaper they read: Globe and Mail (1) Post (2), Star (3),
Sun (4), and to indicate whether they were blue-collar
worker (1), white-collar worker (2), or professional (3).

The responses are stored in file Xm02-04.

2.20
Example 2.4
By counting the number of times each of the 12
combinations occurs, we produced the Table 2.5.
Excel instructions are on page 34.

Occupation
Newspaper Blue Collar White Collar Professional Total
G&M 27 29 33 89
Post 18 43 51 112
Star 38 21 22 81
Sun 37 15 20 72
Total 120 108 126 354

2.21
Example 2.4
If occupation and newspaper are related, then there will be differences
in the newspapers read among the occupations. An easy way to see this
is to convert the frequencies in each column to relative frequencies in
each column. That is, compute the column totals and divide each
frequency by its column total.

Occupation
Newspaper Blue Collar White Collar Professional
G&M 27/120 =.23 29/108 = .27 33/126 = .26
Post 18/120 = .15 43/108 = .40 51/126 = .40
Star 38/120 = .32 21/108 = .19 22/126 = .17
Sun 37/120 = .31 15/108 = .14 20/126 = .16

2.22
Graphing the Relationship Between Two Nominal Variables
(Excel instructions are on page 35)
Use the data from the cross-classification table to create bar charts…

Professionals tend
to read the Post
more than twice as
often as the Star or
Sun…

2.23