Statistics: Describing Data Sets

Summarizing Qualitative Data

 Frequency Table

• The frequency table provides counts and

percentages for qualitative data by class.
• A class is one of the categories into which
qualitative data can be classified.
• The class frequency is the number of observations
in the data set falling into a particular class.
• Finally, the class relative frequency is the class
frequency divided by the total number of
observations in the data set.
 Example: We can illustrate the frequency table using a simple
example of a data set that consists of three qualitative
variables: gender, state, and highest degree earned.

Let’s say that this data set is 20 small business owners.

 Solution
The frequency table summarizes the data so that we can better understand
the data set without having to look at every record.

• The table summarizes the data by the

variable “Highest Degree Earned”.
• The first column shows the different
levels that the variable can take.
• The second and third columns show
the frequency and relative frequency,
respectively for each class.
• For this data set, the MBA degree is
the most represented degree with 7
individuals holding MBA’s.
• Finally, the third column shows the
relative frequency, or the percentage
of people with that degree.
• MBA’s have 35%.
 Graphical Techniques for Describing Data

• The data in the example can also be used

to illustrate a pie chart.
• A pie chart is useful for showing the part
to the whole in a data set.
• The pie chart is a circular chart that
divided into different pieces that
represents the proportion of the class
level to the whole.
• The pie chart provides the same
information that the frequency chart
provides.
• The benefit is for the individuals who
prefer seeing this kind of data in a
graphical format as opposed to a table.
• Clearly the MBA is most highly
represented. Even without the labels, it
would be easy to see that the MBA
degree is the most represented in our
data set as the MBA is the largest slice of
the pie.
 Frequency Histogram

The histogram pictorially represents the actual frequencies of our different classes. In
the frequency histogram, each bar represents the frequency for each class level. The
graph is used to compare the raw frequencies of each level. Again, it is easy to see that
MBA dominates, but the other higher level degrees (Law, MS, and PhD) are almost
equal to each other.
Measures of Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Measure of Variation
Measure of Variation
Measure of Variation
Measure of Variation
Measure of Variation
Measure of Variation
Measure of Variation
Measure of Variation
Measure of Variation
Shape of a Distribution
Approximating
Approximating
Measures of Relative Standing
Measures of Relative Standing
Measures of Relative Standing
Measures of Relative Standing
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company.All rights reserved. Presentation of Lecture Outlines, 24–33
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company.All rights reserved. Presentation of Lecture Outlines, 24–34
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company.All rights reserved. Presentation of Lecture Outlines, 24–35