Lesson 5: GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF DATA

A GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION IS A VISUAL DISPLAY OF DATA AND STATISTICAL RESULTS. IT IS MORE

OFTEN MORE EFFECTIVE THAN IN PRESENTING DATA IN TABULAR FORM. IT IS A VISUAL DISPLAY OF DATA
USING PLOTS AND CHARTS.

1. BAR DIAGRAM
- A GRAPH SHOWING THE DIFFERENCE IN FREQUENCIES OR PERCENTAGES AMONG THE
CATEGORIES OF NOMINAL OR AN ORDINAL VARIABLE.
- THE CATEGORIES ARE DISPLAYED AS RECTANGLES OF EQUAL WIDTH WITH THEIR HEIGHT
PROPORTIONAL TO THEIR FREQUENCY OR PERCENTAGE. THE BARS CAN BE PLOTTED
VERTICALLY OR HORIZONTALLY.

No. of students with asthma in Grade 1

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Section 1 Section 2 Scetion 3 Section 4

No. of students

1. LINE GRAPH
- SHOWS THE DIFFERENCES IN FREQUENCIES OR PERCENTAGES AMONG CATEGORIES OF AN
INTERVAL-RATIO VARIABLE.
- POINTS REPRESENTING THE FREQUENCIES OF EACH CATEGORY ARE PLACED ABOVE THE
MIDPOINT OF THE CATEGORY AND ARE JOINED BY A STRAIGHT LINE.

No. of daily smokers in Ukraine from

2004 - 2009
80
60
40
20
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Men Women

Less than and greater than ogives for the

2010 USTET results of 100 students
120
100 An ogive is aline graph where the bases are
80 class marks or class boundaries and the
60 heights are <cf for the less than ogive and >cf
40 for the greater than ogive.
20
0
10.5 30.5 50.5 70.5 90.5
2. HISTOGRAM
- A GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE EVENTS. A HISTOGRAM IS
QUITE SIMILAR TO THE BAR GRAPH. BOTH ARE MADE UP OF RECTANGULAR BARS. THE
DIFFERENCE IS THAT THERE IS NO GAP BETWEEN ANY TWO BARS IN THE HISTOGRAM.
- THE HISTOGRAM IS USED TO REPRESENT THE CONTINUOUS DATA.

HOURS SPENT PLAYING VIDEOGAMES ON

WEEKENDS
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

3. FREQUENCY POLYGON
- IS A TYPE OF GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION WHICH GIVES US BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE
SHAPE OF GIVEN DISTRIBUTION
- FREQUENCY POLYGONS SERVE ALMOST THE SIMILAR PURPOSE AS HISTOGRAMS DO.

4. BOX – AND – WHISKERS PLOT (BOX PLOT)

- IS A STANDARDIZED WAY OF DISPLAYING THE DISTRIBUTION OF DATA BASED ON THE FIVE
NUMBER SUMMARY: MINIMUM (LOWER LIMIT), FIRST QUARTILE, MEDIAN, THIRD QUARTILE,
AND MAXIMUM (UPPER LIMIT).
- BOX PLOTS ARE USEFUL FOR IDENTIFYING OUTLIERS AND FOR COMPARING DISTRIBUTIONS.

POTENTIAL OUTLIERS ARE OBSERVATIONS THAT LIE OUTSIDE THE LOWER AND UPPER LIMITS.
LOWER LIMIT = Q1 - 1.5 * IQR
UPPER LIMIT = Q3 +1.5 * IQR

ADJACENT VALUES ARE THE MOST EXTREME VALUES THAT ARE NOT POTENTIAL OUTLIERS.
5. STEM AND LEAF PLOT
- IS A SPECIAL TABLE WHERE EACH DATA VALUE IS SPLIT INTO A "STEM" (THE FIRST DIGIT OR
DIGITS) AND A "LEAF" (USUALLY THE LAST DIGIT).