2. Describing Data with Tables and Graphs Flashcards
Frequency Distribution
A collection of observations produced by sorting observations into classes and showing their frequency (f) of occurence in each class.
Frequency Distribution for Ungrouped Data
A frequency distribution produced whenever observations are sorted into classes of single values.
Students in a theater arts appreciation class rated the classic film The Wizard of Oz on a 10-point scale, ranging from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent), as follows:
3 7 2 7 8 3 1 4 10 3 2 5 3 5 8 9 7 6 3 7 8 9 7 3 6
Since the number of possible values is relatively small, - only 10 - it’s appropriate to construct a frequency distribution for ungrouped data. Do this.
10 1 9 2 8 3 7 5 6 2 5 2 4 1 3 6 2 2 1 1 Total 25
Frequency Distribution for Grouped Data
A frequency distribution produced whenever observations are sorted into classes of more than one value.
Unit of Measurement
The smallest possible difference between scores.
What are the 3 essentials guidelines for frequency distributions ?
- Each observation should be included inone, and only one, class.
- List all classes, even those with zero frequencies.
- All classes should have equal intervals.
What are the 4 optional guidelines for frequency distributions?
- All classes should have both an upper boundary and a lower boundary.
- Select the class interval from convenient numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, … 10, particularly 5 and 10 or multiples of 5 and 10.
- The lower boundary of each class interval should be a multiple of the class interval.
- Aim for a total of approximately 10 classes.
Real Limits
Located at the midpoint of the gap between adjacent tabled boundaries.
The IQ scores for a group of 35 high school dropouts are as follows: 91 85 84 79 80 87 96 75 86 104 95 71 105 90 77 123 80 100 93 108 98 69 99 95 90 110 109 94 100 103 112 90 90 98 89
a) Construct a frequency distribution for grouped data.
b) Specify the real limits for the lowest class interval in this frequency distribution.
a) Calculating the class width,
(123-69)/10 = 54/10 = 5.4
Round off to a convenient number, such as 5.
IQ f 120-124 1 115-119 0 110-114 2 105-109 3 100-104 4 95-99 6 90-94 7 85-89 4 80-84 3 75-79 3 70-74 1 65-69 1 TOTAL 35
b) 64.5-69.5
What are some possible poor features of the following frequency distribution?
Estimated weekly TV viewing time (hrs) for 250 sixth graders
VIEWING TIME f 35-above 2 30-34 5 25-30 29 20-22 60 15-19 60 10-14 34 5-9 31 0-4 29 TOTAL 250
- Not all observations can be assigned to one and only one class (because of gap between 20-22 and 25-30 and overlap between 25-30 and 30-34).
- All classes are not equal in width (25-30 versus 30-34).
- All classes do not have both boundaries (35-above).
What are the 9 steps for constructing frequency distributions?
- Find the range, that is the difference between the largest and smallest observation.
- Find the class interval required to span the range by dividing the range by the desired number of classes (ordinarily 10).
- Round off to the nearest convenient interval.
- Determine where the lowest class should begin (ordinarily, this number should be a multiple of the class interval).
- Determine where the lowest class should end by adding the class interval to the lower boundary then subtracting one unit of measurement.
- Working upward, list as many equivalent classes as are required to include the largest observation.
- Indicate with a tally the class in which each observation falls.
- Replace the tally count for each class with a number - the frequency (f) - and show the total of all frequencies.
- Supply headings for both columns and a title for the table.
Outlier
A very extreme score.
Identify any outliers in each of the following sets of data collected from nine college students.
SUMMER INCOME AGE FAMILY SIZE GPA
$6,450 20 2 2.30
$4,820 19 4 4.00
$5,650 61 3 3.56
$1,720 32 6 2.89
$600 19 18 2.15
$0 22 2 3.01
$3,482 23 6 3.09
$25,700 27 3 3.50
$8,548 21 4 3.20
Outliers are:
- a summer income of $25,700;
- an age of 61;
- and a family size of 18.
No outliers for GPA.
Relative Frequency Distribution
A frequency distribution showing the frequency of each class as a fraction of the total frequency for the entire distribution.
How do you convert a frequency distribution into a relative frequency distribution?
You divide the frequency for each class by the total frequency for the entire distribution.