Unit 3.2
Unit 3.2
MODULE – 3
IT and Presenting
Information
MODULE
Unit 3.1
Unit 3.2
Unit 3.3
Learning Objectives:
Learning Outcome:
Data is the life blood of any branch of work. Without data, it would be very much
difficult to make the right decisions. There are different types of data that are to be
collected, organised and processed in order to obtain the right information that will
be the base for making the right decisions. Data are of different types primary as
well as secondary data, qualitative data and quantitative data, discrete data,
continuous data, cross sectional data, temporal data and spatial data. This unit
discusses about the types of data and different ways of presenting data with the help
of pie charts, bar charts, histograms and the like.
That is, the term data is the plural form of the word datum so that it can be said that
the data are available because data is a collection of facts so that it can be said with
surety that the data is available. Data is the collective name for values of a variable
under study. It is the basic source for using descriptive or inferential statistics. The
relevance, timeliness and accuracy of data are the hallmarks of any kind of study.
The quality of information and conclusions derived from a data depends on these
characteristics. The absence of these is reflected in the popular phrase: “Garbage in,
Garbage out” abbreviated as GIGO, mostly used in the field of computer science.
However, it is equally true in the context of statistical data, and at most care is to be
taken while collecting the right data by the right process and from the right source.
The most important characteristics of data that define the quality of data are,
• Accuracy
• Precision
• Reliability
• Consistency
• Legitimacy
• Validity
• Timeliness
• Relevance
• Availability
• Accessibility
• Completeness
• Comprehensiveness
• Granularity
• Uniqueness
• Auditability
The collected data should be processed and analysed in order to obtain useful
information. Such extracted information is used for making business decisions. The
information should be disseminated through the organisation for various purposes.
The data should be of different types. Types of data are an important aspect to be
considered that needs to be understood to apply statistical tools and techniques to
obtain information.
Let us discuss the above types of data in detail in the following section,
• Primary Data – These data are the data which are collected for the first time
afresh for a specific purpose by an investigator. The primary data are pure
that no statistical operations have carried out on them and they are original in
nature. An example of such primary data is the Census data of India.
• Secondary Data – These are the data which are secondary in nature. That is,
the data which have been already collected and processed for some other
purpose and is used for the current study. The published materials form the
basis for secondary data.
• Discrete Data – Quantitative data can be of two types. They are: discrete
and continuous data. Discrete data are the data that can only take certain
values, that is, whole numbers. Discrete data are countable in nature.
Examples,
o A man has four legs and two eyes.
o She has two sisters and two brothers.
o The district consists of 15 blocks.
• Continuous Data – continuous data are the data that can take some values
within a range. These data are measured.
Examples,
o The weight of the person is 35.5 kg.
o The height of the person is 170.5cm.
• Numerical Data – such data are the data which are expressed in numbers.
Hence it is called as numerical data. Numerical data is the information that
is something that is naturally measurable in nature.
Examples,
o The number of students studying in a class is 60.
o The number of trees grown in the farm is 150.
• Nominal Data – Nominal data represent discrete units and are used to label
the variables that are not quantitative in nature. Such data do not have any
kind of order. They are just categorising the respondents or subjects into
different groups.
Examples,
o Gender a) Male b) Female c) Others
o Are you married? a) Yes b) No
o What languages do you speak?
a) English b) Spanish
c) German d) French e) Others
• Interval Data – interval data represent ordered units that have the same
difference. That is, a variable is said to be interval scaled dated when it
contains numeric values that are ordered and where one wants to know the
exact differences between the values. The best example that explains the
interval data is temperature of a given place.
Example,
What is the temperature of Texas?
a) -10
b) -5
c) 0
d) +5
e) +10
f) +15
The main feature of the interval data is that they do not have a “real or true
zero”. That is, there is no such thing of saying no temperature. The
arithmetic operations like addition and subtraction can be carried out with the
interval data. But multiplication or division or calculation of rations is not
possible with the interval data. As there is no true zero, it is not possible to
apply many descriptive as well as inferential statistics.
• Ratio Data – ratio data are also a kind of ordered units that have the same
difference. The ratio scaled data are the same as interval values, with the
difference that they do possess an absolute or real zero. The best examples
are: height, weight, length, and so on.
Example,
The length of an object in inches:
a) 0
b) 5
c) 10
d) 15
e) 20
There are different kinds of charts and graphs available to represent the processed
data. It enhances the visual appeal of the readers / viewers. By looking into the
graphs or charts, one is able to grasp what it actually denotes. Whatever the data
that has been collected and analysed, the processed data has to be present in a nice
and capturing way to attract as well as inform the readers of the charts. Hence this
section deals with the bar charts in detail.
A bar chart is a graph with some rectangular bars. The graph generally compares
different categories. Though the graphs can be plotted vertically, that is, bars
standing up, or horizontally, that is, bars lying flat from left to right. The very
usual kind of bar graph is vertical in nature.
Bar charts are a type of graph that are generally used to display and compare the
facts in the form of numbers, frequency or other measure like mean, mode for
different discrete categories of data.
A bar chart is a way of summarising a set of categorical data, that is, continuous data
can be made categorical through auto-binning. A vertical bar chart is also called as
column chart.
The bar chart represents the data using a number of bars, each bar representing a
particular group or category. The height of each and every bar in the chart is
proportional to a specific aggregation. The categories can be something like age
group of subjects or a geographical location. It is also possible for people to colour
or split each bar into another categorical column in the data that enables one to see
the contribution from different categories to each bar or group of bars in the bar
chart. The horizontal (X) axis represents the categories. The vertical (Y) axis
represents a value for those categories.
Bar graphs are also known as column graphs. The classic bar chart or graph uses
either vertical bars (column charts) or horizontal bars to show discrete, numerical
comparisons across categories. One axis of the chart shows the specific categories
being compared and the other axis represents a discrete value scale.
There is a problem with using bar charts is that labelling becomes much more
problematic when there are a large number of bars.
2. Grouped Bar Charts – such grouped bar graphs are a way of presenting
information about different sub – groups of the main categories of data.
The grouped bar charts can be used to represent several sub – groups of each
category but much care has to be taken to make sure that the chart does not
contain information making it complicated to read and interpret. The
grouped bar charts can be drawn as horizontal as well as vertical charts based
on the nature of the data to be presented.
a. Stacked Bar Charts – these stacked bar charts look like grouped bar charts in
that they are used to display the information about the sub – groups that
make up the different categories. In the stacked bar charts, the bars showing
the sub – groups are placed on the top of each other to make a single column,
or side by side to make a single bar. The overall height or length of the bar
represents the total size of the category whereas different colours or shades
are used to show the relative contribution of the different sub – groups.
b. Segmented Bar Charts – It is a type of stacked bar chart where each bar
shows hundred percent of the discrete value. They should represent
hundred percent on each of the bars or else it is going to be an ordinary
stacked bar chart. Hence, the bar graphs or bar charts are very much useful in
presenting the data.
3.2.4 Histograms
A frequency distribution shows how often each different value in a set of data
occurs. A histogram is the most commonly used graph / chart to show the
frequency distributions. Histogram is the graphical representation of the frequency
distribution of the data.
Pie charts, otherwise called as circle charts, are normally used to show the
percentage or proportional data / information and generally the percentage being
represented by each category is given next to the corresponding slice of the pie. Pie
charts are circular statistical graphs and these graphs are divided into slices in order
to illustrate numerical proportion. The arc length of each slice in a pie chart is
proportional to the quantity it actually represents. Pie charts or circular charts are
very good for displaying the data for around 6 categories or less than 6 categories of
data. Pie charts are widely used tool in the business and also in the mass media to
present their information.
From the earlier period to till date, pie charts or circle graphs or charts are used very
extensively in statistics. The viewers or readers of newspapers and magazines
could have come across such pie charts presenting some information. A pie chart
presents the relationship of the parts to the whole visually by comparing the sizes of
the slices or sections. Pie charts are constructed with the help of hundreds disk or a
circle. The hundreds disk is being built on the concept that the whole of anything is
100%, whereas the circle is built on the concept that 360 0 is the whole of anything.
These two methods of constructing a pie chart are acceptable one and these two will
yield the same result and present the same information. The sections / pies may
have different colours to enable a reader to clearly look for the differences in the
sizes of the sections.
These charts are useful to display the data that are categorised into nominal or
ordinal categories. The nominal data are grouped based on descriptive or
qualitative data like region of residence, type of house owned, brand of car owned
and so on. Ordinal data are very much similar to nominal but the different
categories are ranked in ordinal. For example, respondents may be asked to give
whether they opined something as excellent, very good, good, better, poor, very
poor and worst.
Pie charts are usually used to present percentage or proportional data and the
percentage represented by each group is given next to the corresponding slice of pie.
Pie charts are used to present up to 6 categories or less than 6 categories.
If the values of the components or observation are given in percentages, then the
centre or mid angle relating to a particular component or observation is given by the
formula,
Now, let us see the steps involved in the construction of a pie chart.
Step 1: Finding out the central angle for each component / observation using the
formula given above.
Step 2: Drawing a circle of any radius.
Step 3: Drawing a horizontal radius.
Step 4: Start with the horizontal radius, draw radii, make central angles
corresponding to the values of respective observations / components.
Step 5: Repeat the process for all the components of the given data.
Step 6: These radii divide the whole circle into various pies / sectors.
Step 7: Shade the sectors with different colours to show various components.
Hence a pie chart has been obtained.
3.2.6 Boxplots
Box plots represent the five-number summary of a set of data that includes the
minimum score, first or lower quartile, median, third or upper quartile and
maximum score. That is, a box plot is the visual representation of the statistical five
number summary of a given set of data.
3.2.7 Conclusion
This unit discusses in detail the concept of data; different types of data; different
ways and means used to present the data. The learners can easily understand the
concepts and can utilise in their workplace. Data is of different types like primary,
secondary, categorical, qualitative, quantitative and the like. The diagrams or charts
that are used to present the data are: pie charts, bar charts, histograms and box plots.
The learners may understand clearly the use of various visual aids to present the
data.
Summary
Activity
1. The table given below shows the number of hours a child spent on different
kinds of events on a single working day.
2. The following table shows the favourite flavours of ice cream for the children
living in a locality are given in percentages.
Now, the calculated central angles should be represented within the circle as
different sectors. Hence a pie chart is being constructed.
Now, the calculated central angles should be represented within the circle as
different sectors. Hence a pie chart is being constructed.
Bibliography
E-References
External Resources
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