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COMMUNICATION, INC.
CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
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SCHOOL OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Instructional Module in
Statistics and Probability for Research

Preliminaries
I. Lesson Number 3
II. Lesson Title Frequency Distribution
III. Brief Introduction When undertaking statistical research, inquiry, or study,
of the Lesson data for the variable under examination must be gathered. The
researcher must organize the data in a meaningful manner in
order to explain circumstances, draw conclusions, and draw
inferences about events. The most basic and commonly used
method of organizing data is to create a frequency distribution.
IV. Lesson Objectives At the end of this lesson you are expected to:
a. construct a frequency distribution for categorical and
grouped data;
b. provide class boundaries, frequencies, cumulative
frequencies and midpoint for the given data; and
c. perform mathematical operation to determine the number
of classes suggested for the distribution using the given
rule.

Lesson Proper
I. Getting Started
Let us watch the short video clip. The video can be seen on the given link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTy4BJ0acvY

Questions:
1. What is the main idea of the video clip?
2. Are you familiar to what the video presented?
3. When do we encounter frequency distribution table?
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CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
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II. Discussion
The most basic and commonly used method of organizing data is to create a
frequency distribution. A frequency distribution is a grouping of the data into categories
showing the number of observations in each of the non-overlapping classes. Hence, No
observation will be located on different categories or intervals at the same time.
Before we get started in constructing frequency distribution, we must define some
terms that are essential to understand deeper the nature of data that are displayed in the
frequency distribution.
Defining Some Terms
Range - the difference of the highest value and the lowest value in the distribution
Class Boundaries - the upper and lower values of a class for group frequency distribution
whose values has an additional decimal place, determined by adding and subtracting
0.5 to the lowest and highest values in the class limit respectively
Interval - the distance between the class limits and is denoted by the symbol i
Frequency - the number of values in a specific class of a frequency distribution
Percentage - obtained by dividing the frequency of each class to the total frequency then
multiply their quotient to 100%
Cumulative Frequency - the sum of the frequencies accumulated up to the upper
boundary of a class in a frequency distribution
Midpoint - the point halfway between the class limits of each class and is representative of
the data within that class
You have already unlocked some unfamiliar terminologies required in the construction
of frequency distribution. Let us now move forward to the lesson!

Constructing Frequency Distribution

A grouped frequency distribution is used when the range of data set is large; the data
must be grouped into classes whether it is categorical or interval data. For interval data, the
classes are more than one unit in width. The procedure for constructing the frequency
distribution is discussed in the succeeding pages of this lesson.

A. Categorical Frequency Distribution

It is used to organized nominal-level or ordinal-level type of data. Some examples
where we can apply this distribution are gender, business type, political affiliation, and
others.

Example: Twenty applicants were given a performance evaluation appraisal. The data
set is
High High High Low Average
Average Low Average Average Average
Low Average Average High High
Low Low Average High High

Construct a frequency distribution for the data.

Step 1: Construct a table as shown below.

Class Tally Frequency Percentage
High
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Average
Low

Step 2: Tally the raw data.

Class Tally Frequency Percentage
High IIIII-II
Average IIIII-III
Low IIIII

Step 3: Convert the tallied data into numerical frequencies.

Class Tally Frequency Percentage
High IIIII-II 7
Average IIIII-III 8
Low IIIII 5

Step 4: Determine the percentage. It can be determined using the formula:

% = (f/n)(100%), where f= frequency of the class and n=total number or values

Class Tally Frequency Percentage Found by

High IIIII-II 7 35 (7÷ 20)(100)
Average IIIII-III 8 40 (8÷ 20)(100)
Low IIIII 5 25 (5÷ 20)(100)
Total 20 100

For the sample, more applicants received an average performance rating.

B. Determining Class Interval

Generally, the number of classes for a frequency distribution table varies from 5 to 20
depending primarily on the number of observations in the data set. It is preferable to have
more classes as the size of a data set increases. The decision about the number of classes
depends on the method used by the researcher.
Rule 1. (2k Rule ¿ To determine the number of classes is to use the smallest positive integer
k such that 2k ≥ n, where n is the total number of observations. Using the formula below, we
can obtain the ideal class interval.

Range HV −LV
Suggested class interval (i) = =
Number of Classes k
where: HV = Highest value in a data set LV = Lowest value in a data set
k = number of classes I = suggested class interval

Rule 2. Another way to determine the class interval is by using the formula below.
Range
Suggested class interval (i) =
1+ 3.322( logarithm of total frequencies)

C. Grouped Frequency Distribution

In some cases, it is necessary to group the values of the data to summarize the data
properly.

Example: Use the data below about the scores of 30 students in their major examination in
Statistics to create a grouped frequency distribution.

28 53 28 45 50 56 34 30 48 59
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55 28 54 39 58 46 52 48 31 38
40 62 49 62 29 61 33 62 60 36

Step 1. Arrange the raw data in ascending or descending order. In this particular example,
we will arrange the data in ascending order (from lowest to highest).

28 28 28 29 30 31 33 34 36 38
39 40 45 46 48 48 49 50 52 53
54 55 56 58 59 60 61 62 62 62

Step 2. Determine the classes.

 Find the highest and lowest value.

Highest Value (HV) = 62 and Lowest Value (LV) = 28
 Find the range.
Range= HV - LV = 62 - 28 = 34
 Determine the class interval.

Using Rule 1 Using Rule 2

k
Using 2 rule, we have to think of a number Given that the range is 19 and the total
which will be substituted to k, to come up 2k be frequency is 30, substitute to the formula
greater than the total number of values. for the suggested class interval in Rule 2.
Knowing that we have 30 examination scores, Range
i=
we can substitute 5 to k, so that 2k will be25. 1+ 3.322( logarithm of total frequencies)
And since 25 is equal to 32 and is greater than 34
i=
30, therefore the suggested number of classes 1+ 3.322( log 30)
is 5. Substitute it to the formula 34
Range 34 i=
i= = = 6.8 ≈ 7. 1+ 3.322( log 30)
k 5 34
i=
1+ 4.906996808
34
i=
5.906996808

i = 5.755885961 ≈ 6

As you can notice, we have arrived with different results. It is sometimes happening,
but sometimes we can also get the same result. This time, we are going to use the odd one
as our interval (7), which is the result we have obtained using Rule 2. This is just to get
midpoints that are all whole numbers later.

 Select a starting point for the lowest class limit.

The starting point can be the smallest data value or any convenient number less
than the smallest data value. In our case 28 is used.

 Set the individual class limit

We need to add the interval (or width) to the lowest score taken as the starting point
to obtain the lower limit of the next class. Keep adding until we reach the last class that can
cover the highest value, as reflected 28, 35, 42, 49 and 56.
To obtain the upper-class limits, we need to subtract 1 from the class interval. So, we
have 7 - 1 = 2, then add it to every lower limit. So we have, 34, 41, 48, 55 and 62.
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Class Intervals
28 - 34
35 - 41
Class lower 42 - 48 Class upper limits
limits 49 - 55
56 - 62

 Set the class boundaries in each class by subtracting 0.5 from each lower limit and
adding 0.5 to each upper limit.
Class Intervals Class boundaries
(cb)
28 - 34 27.5 - 34.5
35 - 41 34.5 - 41.5
42 - 48 41.5 - 48.5
49 - 55 48.5 - 55.5
56 - 62 55.5 - 62.5

Step 3. Tally the raw data and convert it to numerical frequencies. Find the total frequency
Class Class Tally Frequency
Intervals boundaries (cb) (f)
28 - 34 27.5 - 34.5 IIIII-III 8
35 - 41 34.5 - 41.5 IIII 4
42 - 48 41.5 - 48.5 IIII 4
49 - 55 48.5 - 55.5 IIIII-I 6
56 - 62 55.5 - 62.5 IIIII-III 8
Total 30

Step 4. Determine the percentage. Use the formula % = (f/n)(100%).

Class Intervals Frequency Percentage Found by
(f)
28 - 34 8 26.67 (8 ÷ 30)(100)
35 - 41 4 13.33 (4 ÷ 30)(100)
42 - 48 4 13.33 (4 ÷ 30)(100)
49 - 55 6 20 (6 ÷ 30)(100)
56 - 62 8 26.67 (8 ÷ 30)(100)
Total 30 100

Step 5. Determine the cumulative frequencies (cf). It can be found by adding the frequency
in each class to the total frequencies of the classes preceding that class.

Class Intervals Frequency cf Found by

(f)
28 - 34 8 8 3
35 - 41 4 12 8+4
42 - 48 4 16 8+4+4
49 - 55 6 22 8+4+4+6
56 - 62 8 30 8+4+4+6+8
Total 30

Step 6. Determine the midpoints. The midpoint (X) can be found by getting the average of
the upper limit and the lower limit in each class.
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CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
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Class Intervals Frequency Midpoint Found by

(f) (X)
28 - 34 8 31 (28 + 34) ÷ 2
35 - 41 4 38 (35 + 41) ÷ 2
42 - 48 4 45 (42 + 48) ÷ 2
49 - 55 6 52 (49 + 55) ÷ 2
56 - 62 8 59 (56 + 62) ÷ 2
Total 30
III. Application(Performance Task-40%)
See the scheduled activity on Neo-LMS.
IV. Assessment(Written Works-30%)
See the scheduled quiz on Neo-LMS. Read each questions carefully and with
understanding. Then choose the best answer among the given choices.
VI. References
Bueno, D. (2016). Introduction to statistics. West Avenue, Quezon City: Great Books
Trading
Castillo, E. et al. (2010). Basic statistics with calculator and computer application. Manila,
Philippines: Rex Book Store
Jabilles, A. et al. (2018). Statistics for thesis writers. Mandaluyong City, Philippines:
Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.
Sirug, W. (2011). Basic probability and statistics. Intramuros Manila, Philippines:
Mindshapers Co., Inc.

Prepared by:

FRANCES C. MORA
Instructor