Describing Data:
Frequency Tables, Frequency
Distributions, and Graphic Presentation
Chapter 2
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2008
GOALS
•Describing different types of variables
•Distinguish among the nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio
levels of measurement.
•Types of Data Source and Methods of Collecting Data.
•Organize quantitative data into a frequency distribution.
•Present a frequency distribution for quantitative data using
histograms, frequency polygons, and cumulative frequency
polygons, bar chart or a pie chart.
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Types of Variables
A. Qualitative or Attribute variable - the characteristic
being studied is nonnumeric.
EXAMPLES: Gender, religious affiliation, type of automobile
owned, state of birth, eye color are examples.
B. Quantitative variable - information is reported
numerically.
EXAMPLES: balance in your checking account, minutes
remaining in class, or number of children in a family.
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Quantitative Variables - Classifications
Quantitative variables can be classified as either discrete or
continuous.
A. Discrete variables: can only assume certain values and there
are usually “gaps” between values.
EXAMPLE: the number of bedrooms in a house, or the number of hammers sold at the
local Home Depot (1,2,3,…,etc).
B. Continuous variable can assume any value within a specified
range.
EXAMPLE: The pressure in a tire, the weight of a pork chop, or the height of students
in a class.
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Summary of Types of Variables
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Four Levels of Measurement
Nominal level - data that is Interval level - similar to the ordinal
classified into categories and level, with the additional property
cannot be arranged in any that meaningful amounts of
particular order. differences between data values
EXAMPLES: eye color, gender, can be determined. There is no
religious affiliation. natural zero point.
EXAMPLE: Temperature on the
Fahrenheit scale.
Ordinal level – involves data
arranged in some order, but
the differences between data Ratio level - the interval level with
values cannot be determined an inherent zero starting point.
or are meaningless. Differences and ratios are
EXAMPLE: During a taste test of 4 meaningful for this level of
soft drinks, Mellow Yellow was measurement.
ranked number 1, Sprite number EXAMPLES: Monthly income of surgeons,
2, Seven-up number 3, and or distance traveled by manufacturer’s
Orange Crush number 4. representatives per month.
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Types of Data Source
Data can be collected from two different sources:
1. Secondary Data: When an investigator uses the data which
has already been collected by others, such data is known as
secondary data. Secondary data can be obtained from journals,
reports, government publications, publications of research institute,
trade and professional bodies etc.
Before using secondary data, the following aspects should be
examined:
Whether the data are suitable for the purpose of investigation.
Whether the data are adequate for the purpose of investigation
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Types of Data Source cont..
2. Primary Data: When the data are collected by the researcher
himself or under the direct supervision of the researcher, then
these data are known as primary data. In other words, primary
data are the data which are not available in published form.
Two different methods can be used in obtaining primary data:
Observations; i.e. observing the no. of students leave the class
room during class time for receiving personal phone call or for
using wash room.
Questionnaire; i.e. distributing printed questions to get the data.
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Specimen of a Questionnaire
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Specimen of a Questionnaire
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Frequency Distribution
Frequency Distribution of Vehicle
Sold at Whitner Autoplex last Month
A Frequency
distribution is a
grouping of data into
mutually exclusive
categories showing
the number of
observations in each
class.
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Frequency Table
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Relative Class Frequencies
Class frequencies can be converted to relative class
frequencies to show the fraction of the total number of
observations in each class.
A relative frequency captures the relationship between a
class total and the total number of observations.
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Frequency Distribution
Class midpoint: A point that divides a class
into two equal parts. This is the average of
the upper and lower class limits.
Class frequency: The number of observations
in each class.
Class interval: The class interval is obtained
by subtracting the lower limit of a class from
the lower limit of the next class.
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EXAMPLE – Creating a Frequency
Distribution Table
Ms. Kathryn Ball of AutoUSA wants
to develop tables, charts, and
graphs to show the typical selling
price on various dealer lots. The
table on the right reports only the
price of the 80 vehicles sold last
month at Whitner Autoplex.
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Constructing a Frequency Table - Example
Step 1: Decide on the number of classes.
A useful recipe to determine the number of classes (k) is the
“2 to the k rule.” such that 2k > n.
There were 80 vehicles sold. So n = 80. If we try k = 6, which means
we would use 6 classes, then 26 = 64, somewhat less than 80.
Hence, 6 is not enough classes. If we let k = 7, then 27 128, which is
greater than 80. So the recommended number of classes is 7.
Step 2: Determine the class interval or width.
The formula is: i (H-L)/k where i is the class interval, H is the
highest observed value, L is the lowest observed value, and k
is the number of classes.
($35,925 - $15,546)/7 = $2,911
Round up to some convenient number, such as a multiple of 10 or
100. Use a class width of $3,000
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Constructing a Frequency Table - Example
Step 3: Set the individual class limits
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Constructing a Frequency Table
Step 4: Tally the vehicle
selling prices into the
classes.
Step 5: Count the number of
items in each class.
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Relative Frequency Distribution
To convert a frequency distribution to a relative frequency
distribution, each of the class frequencies is divided by the
total number of observations.
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Graphic Presentation of a Frequency
Distribution
The Five commonly used graphic forms are:
Histograms
Frequency polygons
Cumulative frequency distributions
Bar Chart
Pie chart
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Histogram
Histogram is a graph that represent the class frequency in a
frequency distribution by vertical adjacent rectangles. It is a graph
where the observations are located on the horizontal axis and the
frequency of those observations is depicted along the vertical
axis.
Selling Price Number of Vehicles
15-18 8
18-21 23
21-24 17
24-27 18
27-30 8
30-33 4
33-36 2
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Histogram Using Excel
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Frequency Polygon
A frequency polygon
also shows the shape of
a distribution and is
similar to a histogram.
It consists of line
segments connecting the
points formed by the
intersections of the class
midpoints and the class
frequencies.
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Cumulative Frequency Distribution
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Cumulative Frequency Distribution
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Bar Charts
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Pie Charts
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Pie Chart Using Excel
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End of Chapter 2
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