lecture 8
Describing, Exploring and Comparing Data frequency distributions
Dr.Nesrin H. Darwesh
University of Duhok-college of dentistry
Objectives
• Organize data using frequency distributions.
• Represent data in frequency distributions
graphically using histograms, frequency
polygons and ogives.
Frequency Distributions
• After collecting data, the first task for a researcher
is to organize and simplify the data so that it is
possible to get a general overview of the results.
• This is the goal of descriptive statistical techniques.
• One method for simplifying and organizing data is
to construct a frequency distribution.
3
Frequency Distributions
•When data are collected in original form, they
are called raw data.
•When the raw data is organized into a frequency
distribution, the frequency will be the number of
values in a specific class of the distribution.
Organizing Data
Data when collected in original form is called “raw
data”. For example:
Frequency Distribution.
• For the first data set, a frequency distribution is shown as
follow:
Class limits Tally Frequency
1-3 ///// ///// 10
4-6 ///// ///// //// 14
7-9 ///// ///// 10
10-12 ///// / 6
13-15 ///// 5
16-18 ///// 5
Frequency Distributions
•A frequency distribution is the
organizing of raw data in table
form, using classes and
frequencies.
Reasons for Constructing Frequency Distributions
1. Large data sets can be summarized.
2. We can analyze the nature of data.
3. We have a basis for constructing important
graphs.
Types of Frequency Distribution
• There are three basic types of frequency
distribution:
• Categorical
• Ungrouped
• Grouped
Three Types of Frequency Distributions
1. Categorical frequency distributions - can
be used for data that can be placed in specific
categories, such as nominal- or ordinal-level
data.
Examples - religious affiliation, blood type etc.
Example: The blood type of different students:
Blood Type Frequency distribution - Example
class frequency percent
A 5 20
B 7 28
O 9 36
AB 4 16
2. Ungrouped Frequency Distributions
can be used for data that can be enumerated
and when the range of values in the data set
is not large.
When the range of data is small, the data
must be grouped into classes that are not
more than one unit in width.
Ungrouped Frequency Distributions
Example - Given the following set of data, we
would like to create a frequency distribution.
156323226
x Frequency (tally)
1 1 |
2 3 |||
3 2 ||
4
5 1 |
6 2 ||
3. Grouped Frequency Distributions:
can be used when the range of values in the data
set is very big.
The data must be grouped into classes that are
more than one unit in width
Guide to Number of Classes for a Frequency
Distribution
Sample Size Number of Classes
Fewer than 50 5 – 6 classes
50 to 100 6 – 8 classes
over 100 8 – 10 classes
Procedure for Constructing a Grouped
Frequency Distribution
1. Find the highest and lowest value.
2. Find the range.
3. Select the number of classes desired.
4. Find the width by dividing the range by the number of
classes and rounding up. Select a starting point (usually
the lowest value); add the width to get the lower limits.
5. Find the upper class limits.
6. Tally the data, find the frequencies and find the
cumulative frequency
Example: Frequency distribution table for the
given data: (8 classes)
11 38 14 17 36 44 19 38 42 33
20 22 45 24 33 25 40 26 28 29
30 31 50 32 34 49 35 37 39 27
Range=50-11=39 39/8=4.87round it to 5
Example :- In a survey of 20 patients who
smoked, the following data were obtained.
Each value represents the number of
cigarettes the patient smoked per day.
Construct a frequency distribution using six
classes.
10 8 6 14 22 13 17
11 9 18 14 13 12 15
15 5 11 16 11 19
•Step 1: Find the highest and lowest values: H = 22 and L = 5.
•Step 2: Find the range: R = H – L = 22 – 5 = 17.
•Step 3: Select the number of classes desired. In this case it is equal
to 6.
Step 4: Find the class width by dividing the range by the number of
classes.
Width = 17/6 = 2.83. This value is rounded up to 3.
Step 5: Select a starting point for the lowest class limit. For
convenience, this value is chosen to be 5, the smallest data value.
The lower class limits will be 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 20.
Step 6: The upper class limits will be 7, 10, 13, 16, 19 and 22. For
example, the upper limit for the first class is computed as 8 - 1, etc.
Step 7: Tally the data, write the numerical values for the tallies in
the frequency column and find the cumulative frequencies.
Class Frequency Cumulative
frequency
5-7 2 2
8-10 3 5
11-13 6 11
14-16 5 16
17-19 3 19
20-22 1 20
Relative Frequency Distribution:-
Relative frequency of a class is the frequency obtained by dividing
frequency by the total frequency.
Relative frequency is the proportion of the total frequency that is in
any given class interval in the frequency distribution.
If f is the frequency of a particular value then the ratio 'f/n' is
called its relative frequency
Relative Frequency = f / n
Percentage = (Relative frequency)*100
Cumulative frequency distribution-
Calculating a cumulative frequency distribution is the sum of the
class and all classes below it in a frequency distribution.
Question: Find the relative frequency from the data given below:
Class interval Frequency
20-25 10
25-30 12
30-35 8
35-40 20
40-45 11
45-50 4
50-55 5
Relative frequency distribution table for the given data.
Here n = 70
Relative Frequency (f/n)
Class interval Frequency (f)
20-25 10 10 / 70 = 0.143
25-30 12 12 / 70 = 0.171
30-35 8 8 / 70 = 0.114
35-40 20 20 / 70 = 0.286
40-45 11 11 / 70 = 0.157
45-50 4 4 / 7 0 = 0.057
50-55 5 5 / 70 = 0.071
Total n = 70
Percentage frequency
Relative Frequency × 100 = Percentage
