TOPIC: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

DATA COLLECTION, ORGANIZATION AND PRESENTATION

2.1 Introduction
 Data refers to any information or facts collected for reference or analysis.
 There are two types of data: secondary data and primary data.
Secondary Data
 Its data that been gathered earlier for some other purpose. In contrast, the data that are collected
first hand by someone specifically for the purpose of facilitating the study are known as primary
data.
 E.G: the demographic statistics collected every ten years are the primary data with the registrar
of persons but the same statistics used by anyone else would be secondary data with that
individual.
Advantages of secondary data
i) It is far more economical as the cost of collecting original data is saved.
ii) Use of secondary data is time saving.
Disadvantages of secondary data
i) One does not always know how accurate the secondary data are.
ii) The secondary data might be out dated.

 Before using secondary data it is important to consider the following:

i) Whether the data are suitable for the purpose of investigation
 The suitability of the data can be judged in the light of the nature and scope of investigation.
 E.G: if the object of inquiry is to study the wage levels including allowances of workers and the
data relate to basic wages alone, such data would not be suitable for the immediate purpose
ii) Whether the data are adequate for the purpose of investigation
 Adequacy of the data is to be judged in the light of the requirements of the study and the
geographical area covered by the available.
 E.G: if the object is to study wage rates of the workers in the sugar industry in Kenya and if the
available data cover only one region, it would not serve the purpose.
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  The question of adequacy may also be considered in the in the light of the time period for which
the data are available
 E.G: For studying trend of prices data for the last 8-10 years may be required but if from the
sources known the data available is for the last 5-6 years only, this would not serve the object.
iii) Whether the data are reliable
 Reliability of the data has to do with the data collection procedures.
 To ensure reliability of the data one may need to determine the context in which the data were
collected, the procedure followed and the level of accuracy exercised in the collection.
 Determination of the reliability of secondary data is perhaps the most important and at the same
time most difficult job.
Primary Data
 Primary data are measurements observed and recorded as part of an original study.
 The work of collecting primary data is usually limited by time, money and manpower available.
 When the data to be collected are very large in volume, it is possible to draw reasonably accurate
conclusions from a sample.
 There are two methods of obtaining primary data:
a) Questioning
b) Observation
 Questions may be asked in person or in writing. A formal list of such questions is called a
questionnaire.
 When the data are collected by observation, the investigator asks no questions. Instead, he observes
and records the desired information.
 Of the two methods named above, the questionnaire method is more widely used for calculating
business data. Three different ways of communicating with questionnaires are available
i) Personal interview
ii) Mail
iii) Telephone interview
 Personal interviews are those in which an interviewer obtains information from respondents in face-
to-face meetings. The information obtained by this method is likely to be more accurate because the
interviewer can clear-up doubts, can cross-examine the informants and thereby obtain correct
information.

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 In mail surveys, questionnaires are mailed to respondents who are supposed to fill them and return.
They are appropriate where the field of investigation is very vast and the informants are spread over
a wide geographical area.
 Telephone interviews are similar to personal interviews except that communication between
interviewer and respondents is on telephone instead of direct personal contact.

2.3 Organization and Presentation of Data

 Data collected in an investigation and not organized systematically is called raw data. The
arrangement of this data in ascending or descending order of magnitude is called an array.
 The difference between the largest and the smallest value is called the range.
 E.G: The table below records the heights, in inches, of eight students. Column I represents the raw
data and column II illustrates the arrangement in an array.

Raw Data Array

66 65
68 66
72 66
65 68
66 68
73 69
68 72
69 73

 The largest value is 73 and the smallest is 65. Hence, the range is 73 – 65 = 8 inches.

Frequency Distribution
Ungrouped data
 In forming an array, a value is repeated as many times as it appears. The number of times a value
appears in the listing is referred to as its frequency. In giving the frequency of a value, we answer
the question, “How frequently does the value occur in the listing?”
 When the data is arranged in tabular form by giving its frequencies, the table is called a frequency
table. The arrangement itself is called a frequency distribution.
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 Quite often it is useful to give relative frequencies instead of actual frequencies. The relative
frequency of any observation is obtained by dividing the actual frequency of the observation by the
total frequency (sum of all frequencies).
 If the relative frequencies are multiplied by 100 and expressed as a percentage, we get the
percentage frequency distribution.
 An advantage of expressing frequencies as percentages is that one can then compare frequency
distributions of two sets of data.
Example:
The following data were obtained when a die was tossed 30 times. Construct a frequency table.
1 2 4 2 2 6 3 5 6 3
3 1 3 1 3 4 5 3 5 3
5 1 6 3 1 2 4 2 4 4

Grouped Data
 When dealing with a huge mass of data and when the observed values consist of too many distinct
values, it is preferable to divide the entire range of values and group the data into classes.
 E.G: If we are interested in the distribution of ages of people, we could form the classes
0 – 19, 20 – 39, 40 – 59, 60 – 79 and 80 – 99. A class such as 40 – 59 represents all the people with
ages between 40 and 59 years inclusive.
 When data are arranged in this way, they are called grouped data. The number of individuals in a
class is called the class frequency.
 The following set of steps are suggested to form a frequency distribution from the raw data
i) Range
Scan through the raw data and find the smallest and the largest value. The largest value
minus the smallest value gives the range.
ii) Number of classes
Decide on a suitable number of classes. This could be anywhere from six to twenty.
iii) Class size
Divide the range by the number of classes. Round this figure to a convenient value to obtain
the class size and form the classes.
iv) Frequency
Find the number of observations in each class.

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Example
The following data gives the amounts (in dollars) spent on groceries by 40 housewives during a week.
22 12 9 8 33 32 30 33 8 11
21 16 12 15 37 30 16 22 12 24
18 25 37 16 25 28 25 18 9 28
25 28 26 15 12 35 38 16 24 31
Construct a frequency distribution using seven classes.

Class Intervals, Class Marks and Class Boundaries

 The blocks 10 – 20, 20 – 30, 30 – 40, etc are called class intervals. The lower ends of the class
intervals are called lower limits and their upper ends are called upper limits.
 The number of values specified in a given interval is called its length or width or magnitude.
E.G: The class 1 – 3 has values 1, 2, 3 thus its length is 3.
The class 5 – 9 has values 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; the length or magnitude is 5
 There are two types of classes
i) Inclusive type: These are of the type 5 – 9, 10 – 14, 15 – 19, … where both the upper and
lower class limits are included in a given class.
ii) Exclusive type: These are of the type 5 – 10, 10 – 15, 15 – 20, … where the upper class
limit of a given class is the lower class limit of the succeeding class.
The class 5 – 10 has values 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and the class 10 – 15 has 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
NB: The conversion of inclusive type of classes to exclusive type is useful in calculating certain
measures such as mode and median.
 A point that represents the halfway or dividing point between successful classes is called a class
boundary. If d is the difference between the lower class limit of a given class and the upper class
limit of the succeeding class, then

Upper Class Boundary (UCB) = Upper Class Limit (UCL) +

Lower Class Boundary (LCB) = Lower Class Limit (LCL) -

 The class mark is defined as the mid-point of a class interval. It is computed by adding the lower
and upper class limits of a class and then dividing by 2.

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 Mid-point =

=
Example
Class L.C.L U.C.L L.B U.B Class mark
(Midpoint)
10 – 19 10 19 9.5 19.5 14.5
20 – 29 20 29 19.5 29.5 24.5
30 – 39 30 39 29.5 39.5 34.5
40 – 49 30 49 39.5 49.5 44.5
50 – 59 50 59 49.5 59.5 54.5

NB: The upper boundary of one class is the lower boundary of the next.

Cumulative Frequency Distribution:

 If a frequency distribution is arranged in the “less than” form, it is called a cumulative frequency
distribution which presents the accumulated.
 When the data is not grouped, a cumulative frequency distribution will show the number of items
less than or equal to a given value.
Example
The data below gives the weights of 30 people. Find the cumulative frequency distribution.

Weight Frequency Cumulative frequency (c.f)

140 3 3
150 5 8
160 6 14
170 7 21
180 6 27
190 3 30

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 When the data is grouped, the cumulative frequency distribution gives the total frequency of all the
values less than the upper boundary of a given class.
Example
Find the cumulative frequency distribution for the grouped data given below:
Class Frequency Cumulative frequency (cf)
5 – 19 4 4
20 – 34 12 16
35 – 49 15 31
50 – 64 16 47
65 – 79 22 69
80 – 94 11 80

2.4 Graphical Representation of a Frequency Distribution

The following types of graphical representation are usually used for frequency distribution.
a) Histogram: It is a graph in which classes boundaries are marked on the horizontal axis and the class
frequencies on the horizontal axis and the class frequencies on the vertical axis. The class
frequencies are represented by the heights of the bars and the bars are drawn adjacent to each other.
b) Frequency polygons and Frequency Curve: A frequency polygon is a line graph where we plot
the class marks or midpoints along the horizontal axis and the corresponding frequencies along the
vertical axis. The class midpoints are connected with a line segment.
If the classes are very many and the class widths are so small that the midpoints are close together,
the polygon can be formed by free hand to give a smooth curve known as a frequency curve.
c) Cumulative Frequency Curve or the Ogive. An ogive is a line graph obtained by representing the
upper class boundaries along the horizontal axis and the corresponding cumulative frequency along
the vertical axis.

2.5 Exercise
A random sample of 50 auto drivers insured with a company and having similar auto insurance
policies was selected. The following data shows monthly auto insurance premium (in Kshs.000) paid
by them.
54 40 45 20 60 30 35 40 55 70 20 15 45
60 45 25 15 30 25 18 35 25 45 56 59 25

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27 39 50 56 20 25 30 30 41 25 56 48 45
25 35 60 55 48 38 34 60 60 60 64
i) Group the above data starting with the class 10 -20 exclusive
ii) Represent the data using a Histogram and an Ogive.
CPA KIMANI JM