Chapter 3

𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑎𝑡a
At the end of this module, the students should be able to:
 Recognize the different methods of presenting data
 Construct a frequency distribution
 Graph a frequency distribution.
 Construct other types of frequency distribution

Introduction
Data Presentation
Data are usually collected in a raw format and thus the inherent information is difficult to understand.
Therefore, raw data need to be summarized, processed, and analyzed to usefully derive information from
them. However, no matter how well manipulated, the information derived from the raw data should be
presented in an effective format, otherwise, it would be a great loss for both authors and readers. Planning
how the data will be presented is essential before appropriately processing raw data.

Presentation of data refers to an exhibition or putting up data in an attractive and useful manner such
that it can be easily interpreted. The three main forms of presentation of data are:
 Textual Presentation
 Tabular Presentation
 Graphical Presentation

Textual Presentation
Data is presented in paragraph or in sentences and includes enumeration of important characteristics
emphasizing the most significant features and highlighting the most striking attributes of the set of data.

QUALITATIVE
Advantage of Textual Presentation
 The data would be more interpreted.
 Can help in emphasizing some important points in data.
 Small sets of data can be easily presented.

Tabular Presentation of Data

Clear presentation and comparison of large number of data items in a table to allow data to be presented
at a level of detail which cannot usually be determined from a text.

QUANTITATIVE APPROACH

Advantage of Tabular Presentation

✦ More information may be presented.
✦ Exact values can be read from a table to retain precision.
✦ Flexibility is maintained without distortion of data.
✦ Less work and less cost are required in the preparation.

Graphical Presentation of Data

May be in the form of bar graphs, line graphs or pie charts which help facilitate comparison and
interpretation without going through the numerical data.
 Example of Graphical Presentation of data

DISCRETE
CONTINUOUS
Frequency Distribution
The most convenient way of organizing data is by constructing frequency distribution. A frequency
distribution is a collection of observations produces by sorting them into classes and showing their
frequency distribution: categorical, ungrouped, and grouped. The categorical frequency distribution is
used for data that can be placed in specific categories, such as nominal, or ordinal level data.