Chapter 4

PRESENTATION OF DATA
Presentation of Data: Tabular Presentation and Diagrammatic Presentation of Data: (i) Geometric
forms (bar diagrams and pie diagrams), (ii) Frequency diagrams (histogram, polygon and Ogive)
and (iii) Arithmetic line graphs (time series graph).

Introduction
Given that data is often voluminous, it must be presented in a compact and accessible
form. In statistics, the "presentation of data" refers to how we organise and display
data so that it is easy to understand and interpret. There are three primary forms of
data presentation: textual or descriptive, tabular, and diagrammatic.

Textual Presentation of Data

Textual presentation involves describing data within the text, making it suitable for
smaller data sets. For instance, a bandh call on September 8, 2005, in Bihar resulted
in 5 petrol pumps being open and 17 closed, while 2 schools were closed, and 9
remained open. In this case, the data have been presented only in the text.

A serious drawback of this method of presentation is that one has to go through the
complete text of presentation for comprehension.

Tabular Presentation of Data

Tabular presentation, on the other hand, organises data into rows and columns,
providing a clearer understanding. For example, a 3 × 3 table might display literacy
rates for males, females, and the total population across urban, rural, and total
categories. This method's primary advantage is that it organises data for further
statistical analysis and decision-making.

The classi cation used in tabulation can be qualitative, quantitative, temporal, or

spatial.
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 a) Qualitative classi cation: When classi cation is done according to attributes,
such as social status, physical status, nationality, etc., it is called qualitative
classi cation. For example, in Table 4.1 the attributes for classi cation are sex and
location which are qualitative in nature.

b) Quantitative Classi cation: In quantitative classi cation, the data are

classi ed on the basis of characteristics which are quantitative in nature. In
other words these characteristics can be measured quantitatively. For
example, age, height, production, income, etc are quantitative
characteristics.
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c) Temporal Classi cation: In this classi cation time becomes the classifying
variable and data are categorised according to time. Time may be in hours,
days, weeks, months, years, etc. For example, see Table 4.3.

d) Spatial classi cation: When classi cation is done on the basis of place, it
is called spatial classi cation. The place may be a village/town, block,
district, state, country, etc. Table 4.4 is an example of spatial classi cation.
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Tabulation of Data and Parts of a Table
A good table should essentially have the following:

(i) Table Number: Table number is assigned to a table for identification purpose. If
more than one table is presented, it is the table number that distinguishes one
table from another. It is given at the top or at the beginning of the title of the
table.

(ii) Title: The title of a table narrates about the contents of the table. It has to be
clear, brief and carefully worded. It finds place at the head of the table succeeding
the table number or just below it.

(iii) Captions or Column Headings: At the top of each column in a table a column
designation is given to explain figures of the column. This is called caption or
column heading.

(iv) Stubs or Row Headings: Like a caption or column heading, each row of the
table has to be given a heading. The designations of the rows are also called stubs
or stub items, and the complete left column is known as stub column.

(v) Body of the Table: The body of the table is its core component, containing the
actual data. This section is structured in a grid format, where the intersection of
rows and columns specifies the location of each data point.

(vi) Unit of Measurement: It is crucial to specify the unit of measurement for the
figures in a table. This information should be stated along with the table title or
with the relevant rows and columns.

(vii) Source: The source section provides a brief statement indicating where the data
in the table originated. This is important for verifying the data's credibility and
for further reference. If the data comes from multiple sources, all should be listed.

(viii) Note: The note is the final part of the table and serves to explain any specific
features of the data that are not immediately clear from the table itself. This might
include details about data collection methods, anomalies in the data, or any other
relevant information that helps in interpreting the table accurately. The note is
usually placed at the bottom of the table.
DIAGRAMMATIC PRESENTATION OF DATA

This method provides the quickest understanding of the actual situation to be

explained by data in comparison to tabular or textual presentations. Diagrammatic
presentation of data translates quite effectively the highly abstract ideas contained in
numbers into more concrete and easily comprehensible form. There are various kinds
of diagrams in common use. Amongst them the important ones are the following:

(i) Geometric diagram

(ii) Frequency diagram
(iii) Arithmetic line graph

Geometric Diagram

Bar diagram and pie diagram come in the category of geometric diagram. The bar
diagrams are of three types — simple, multiple and component bar diagrams.

Bar Diagram

Simple Bar Diagram

Bar diagram comprises a group of equispaced and equiwidth rectangular bars for
each class or category of data. Height or length of the bar reads the magnitude of
data. Bars of a bar diagram can be visually compared by their relative height and
accordingly data are comprehended quickly. Data for this can be of frequency or non-
frequency type.

Bar diagrams are suitable both for frequency type and non-frequency type variables
and attributes. Discrete variables like family size, spots on a dice, grades in an
examination, etc. and attributes such as gender, religion, caste, country, etc. can be
represented by bar diagrams. Bar diagrams are more convenient for non-frequency
data such as income expenditure profile, export/imports over the years, etc.
Multiple Bar Diagram

Multiple bar diagrams are used for comparing two or more sets of data, for example
income and expenditure or import and export for different years, marks obtained in
different subjects in different classes, etc.

Component Bar Diagram

Component bar diagrams or charts, also called sub-diagrams, are very useful in
comparing the sizes of different component parts (the elements or parts which a thing
is made up of) and also for throwing light on the relationship among these integral
parts. For example, sales proceeds from different products, expenditure pattern in a
typical Indian family (components being food, rent, medicine, education, power,
etc.). Component bar diagrams are usually shaded or coloured suitably.
To construct a component bar diagram, rst of all, a bar is constructed on the x-axis
with its height equivalent to the total value of the bar [for per cent data the bar height
is of 100 units (Figure 4.3)]. Otherwise the height is equated to total value of the bar
Smaller components are given priority in parting the bar.

Pie Diagram
A pie diagram is also a component diagram, but unlike a bar diagram, here it is a
circle whose area is proportionally divided among the components (Fig.4.4) it
represents.

It is also called a pie chart. The circle is divided into as many parts as there are
components by drawing straight lines from the centre to the circumference.

Construction of Pie Diagram:

1. Convert the absolute values of various parts or components into percentage

values of the total.

2. The percentage values are converted into corresponding degrees i.e., as a part of
360°.
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3. Construct a circle of a suitable size with a compass.

4. Show each value in the circle clockwise. For this, take a radius as base line to
draw the angles. After rst component is drawn, the new line will become base
for second component. This procedure should be repeated till angular
presentation of all components is done.
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Frequency Diagram

Data in the form of grouped frequency distributions are generally represented by

frequency diagrams like histogram, frequency polygon, frequency curve and ogive.

Frequency diagrams are used to represent data that is organised into groups. These
diagrams include:

1. Histogram
2. Frequency Polygon
3. Frequency Curve
4. Ogive

Histogram

A histogram is a two dimensional diagram. It is a set of rectangles with base as the

intervals between class boundaries (along X-axis) and with areas proportional to the
class frequency.

If the class intervals are of equal width, which they generally are, the area of the
rectangles are proportional to their respective frequencies. However, in some type of
data, it is convenient to use varying width of class intervals.

When intervals are equal, that is, when all rectangles have the same base, area can
conveniently be represented by the frequency of any interval for purposes of
comparison. When bases vary in their width, the heights of rectangles are to be
adjusted to yield comparable measurements. The answer in such a situation is
frequency density (class frequency divided by width of the class interval) instead
of absolute frequency.

Histogram also gives value of mode of the frequency distribution graphically as

shown in Figure 4.5 and the x-coordinate of the dotted vertical line gives the mode.
Differences Between Histogram and Bar Diagram

A histogram and a bar diagram may appear similar at rst glance, but they have
several key differences:

1. Spacing and Width:

◦ In a bar diagram, the spacing between bars and the width of the bars are
arbitrary and don't matter for comparison.
◦ In a histogram, no space is left between bars, and both the width and
height are important for representation.

2. Measurement Focus:
◦ In bar diagrams, the height of the bars is the key measure, while the
width or area is not signi cant.
◦ In histograms, both the height and width of the bars are crucial.

3. Types of Variables:
◦ Bar diagrams can represent both discrete and continuous variables.
◦ Histograms are used only for continuous variables.
4. Mode Representation:
◦ Histograms can graphically display the mode of the frequency
distribution, which can be found using the x-coordinate of a dotted
vertical line on the graph.

Frequency Polygon

Frequency polygon is an alternative to histogram and is also derived from histogram

itself. The simplest method of drawing a frequency polygon is to join the midpoints
of the topside of the consecutive rectangles of the histogram.

The total area under the curve, like the area in the histogram, represents the total
frequency. Frequency polygon is the most common method of presenting grouped
frequency distribution.
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Both class boundaries and class-marks can be used along the X-axis, the distances
between two consecutive class marks being proportional/equal to the width of the
class intervals. Frequencies are always plotted against the mid-point of class
intervals.

When all the points have been plotted in the graph, they are carefully joined by a
series of short straight lines.

Frequency Curve
The frequency curve is obtained by drawing a smooth freehand curve passing through
the points of the frequency polygon as closely as possible. It may not necessarily pass
through all the points of the frequency polygon but it passes through them as closely
as possible (Fig. 4.7).
Here the dotted curve is known as the frequency curve.

Ogive
Ogive is also called cumulative frequency curve. As there are two types of
cumulative frequencies, for example ‘‘less than’’ type and ‘‘more than’’ type,
accordingly there are two ogives for any grouped frequency distribution data.

Cumulative frequencies are plotted along y-axis against class limits of the frequency
distribution. For ‘‘less than’’ ogive the cumulative frequencies are plotted against
the respective upper limits of the class intervals whereas for more than ogives
the cumulative frequencies are plotted against the respective lower limits of the
class interval. An interesting feature of the two ogives together is that their
intersection point gives the median of the frequency distribution.
Arithmetic Line Graph
An arithmetic line graph is also called time series graph. In this graph, time (hour,
day/date, week, month, year, etc.) is plotted along x-axis and the value of the variable
(time series data) along y-axis. A line graph by joining these plotted points, thus,
obtained is called arithmetic line graph (time series graph). It helps in understanding
the trend, periodicity, etc., in a long term time series data.
Here you can see from Fig. 4.9 that for the period 1993-94 to 2013-14, the imports
were more than the exports all through the period. You may notice the value of both
exports and imports rising rapidly after 2001-02. Also the gap between the two
(imports and exports) has widened after 2001-02.