Behavioral Statistics

Chapter 2 – Describing Data with

Tables and Graphs
Class Progress To-Date

Math Readiness

Descriptives

Midterm next Monday

Frequency Distributions

 One of the simplest forms of

measurement is counting
 How many people show a
characteristic, have a given value or
are members of a category.
 Frequency distributions count how
many observations exist for each
value for a particular variable.
Frequency Table

 A frequency table is a collection of

observations:
 Sorted into classes
 Showing the frequency for each class.
 A “class” is a group of observations.
 When each class consists of a single
observation, the data is considered
to be ungrouped.
Creating a Table

 List the possible values.

 Count how many observations exist
for each possible value.
 One way to do this is using hash-marks
and crossing off each value.
 Figure out the corresponding
percent for each class by dividing
each frequency by the total scores.
Unorganized Data

1, 5, 3, 3, 6, 2, 1, 5, 2, 1, 2, 6, 3,
4, 1, 6, 2, 4, 4, 2

 A set of observations like this is

difficult to find patterns in or
interpret.
Example
When to Create Groups
 Grouping is a convenience that
makes it easier for people to
understand the data.
 Ungrouped data should have <20
possible values or classes (not <20
scores, cases or observations).
 Identities of individual observations
are lost when groups are created.
Guidelines for Grouping

 See pgs 29-30 in text.

 Each observation should be included
in one and only one class.
 List all classes, even those with 0
frequency (no observations).
 All classes with upper & lower
boundaries should be equal in
width.
Optional Guidelines
 All classes should have an upper
and lower boundary.
 Open-ended classes do occur.
 Select an interval (width) that is
natural to think about:
 5 or 10 are convenient, 13 is not
 The lower boundary should be a
multiple of class width (245-249).
 Aim for a total of about 10 classes.
Gaps Between Classes
 With continuous data, there is an
implied gap between where one
boundary ends and the other starts.
 The size of the gap equals one unit
of measurement – the smallest
possible difference between scores.
 That way no observations can ever fall
within that gap.
 Class sizes account for this.
Relative Frequency
 Relative frequency – frequency of
each class as a fraction (%) of the
total frequency for the distribution.
 Relative frequency lets you compare
two distributions of different sizes.
 Obtain the fraction by dividing the
frequency for each group by the
total frequency
 Total = 1.00 (100%)
Example

4/20 = .20 or 20%

5/20 = .25 or 25%

3/20 = .15 or 15%

3/20 = .15 or 15%

2/20 = .10 or 10%

3/20 = .15 or 15%

Total = 20 Total = 1.0

or 100%
Cumulative Frequency

 Cumulative frequency – the total

number of observations in a class
plus all lower-ranked classes.
 Used to compare relative standing
of individual scores within two
distributions.
 Add the frequency of each class to
the frequencies of those below it.
Relative Frequency (Percent) and
Cumulative Frequency
Cumulative Proportion (Percent)
 The cumulative proportion or
percent is the relative cumulative
frequency.
 Percent = proportion x 100
 It allows comparison of cumulative
frequencies across two distributions.
 To obtain cumulative proportions
divide the cumulative frequency by
the total frequency for each class.
 Highest class = 1.00 (100%)
Percentile Ranks
 Percentile rank – percent of
observations with the same or lower
values than a given observation.
 Find the score, then use the
cumulative percent as the percentile
rank:
 Exact ranks can be found from
ungrouped data.
 Only approximate ranks can be found
from grouped data.
Qualitative Data

 Some categories are ordered (can

be placed in a meaningful order):
 Military ranks, levels of schooling
(elementary, high school, college)
 Frequencies can be converted to
relative frequencies.
 Cumulative frequencies only make
sense for ordered categories.
Interpreting Tables
 First read the title, column headings
and any footnotes.
 Where do the data come from, source?
 Next, consider whether the table is
well-constructed – does it follow the
grouping guidelines.
 Finally, look at the data and think
about whether it makes sense.
 Focus on overall trends, not details.
Parts of a Graph
Constructing Graphs

 Select the type of graph.

 Place groups on the x-axis.
 Place frequency on the y-axis.
 Values for the groups and
frequencies depend on the data.
 Label the axes and give a title to
the graph.
Histograms

 For quantitative data only.

 Equal units across x axis represent
groups.
 Equal units across y axis represent
frequency.
 Use wiggly line to show breaks in
the scale.
 Bars are adjacent – no gaps.
Histogram Applets
 http://www.stat.sc.edu/~west/javahtml/Histogram.html
 Uses Old Faithful geyser data
 http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/histogram/
?version=1.6.0_11&browser=MSIE&vendor=Sun_Microsys
tems_Inc.
 Uses math SAT data

 Notice that “bin width” refers to class or

interval size.
 SPSS automatically creates classes or
intervals.
Frequency Polygons

 Also called a line graph.

 A histogram can be converted to a
frequency polygon by connecting
the midpoints of the bars.
 Anchor the line to the x axis at
beginning and end of distribution.
 Two frequency polygons can be
superimposed for comparison.
Creating a Line Graph from a
Histogram

Histogram Frequency Polygon

7
8
Number of Employees

Number of Employees
7
5
6
4 5
3 4
2 3
2
1
1
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Length of S ervice (years) Years of S ervice

Histogram
7
Number of Employees

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Length of S ervice (years)
Stem-and-Leaf Displays
 Constructing a display:
 Notice the highest and lowest 10s
 Arrange 10s in ascending order.
 Copy right-hand digits as leaves.
 The resulting display resembles a
frequency histogram.
 Stems are whatever digits make
sense to use.
Sample

Stem and leaf display showing the number of passing

touchdowns.

3|2337
2|001112223889
1|2244456888899
Purpose of Frequency Graphs

 In statistics, we are interested in

the shapes of distributions because
they tell us what statistics to use.
 They let us identify outliers that
might distort the statistics we will
be using.
 They present data so that readers
can quickly and easily grasp its
meaning.
Shapes of Distributions
 Normal – bell-shaped and
symmetrical.
 Bimodal – two peaks.
 Suggests presence of two different
types of observations in the same data.
 Positively skewed – lopsided due to
extreme observations in right tail.
 Negatively skewed – extreme
observations in left tail.
Shapes of Graphs
bimodal normal

positive skew negative skew

Heavy vs Light-tailed Distributions

 Heavy-tailed – a distribution with

more observations in its tails.
 Light-tailed – a distribution with
fewer observations in its tails and
more in the center.
 Kurtosis – a statistic that measures
the shape of the distribution and
the size of the tails.
Other Kinds of Graphs

 Frequency is not the only measure

that can be displayed on the y-axis.
 We are using a graph to explore the
shape of a distribution in this chapter.
 Usually the y-axis shows the
dependent variable while the x-axis
shows groups (independent
variable).
 Graphs can be visually interesting!
Graphs Allow Visual Comparisons
 The Best Graph Ever Drawn

Source: http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/
Details About the Graph
 The map was the work of Charles Joseph Minard (1781-
1870), a French civil engineer who was an inspector-
general of bridges and roads, but whose most
remembered legacy is in the field of statistical graphics
 The chart, or statistical graphic, is also a map. And a
strange one at that. It depicts the advance into (1812)
and retreat from (1813) Russia by Napoleon’s Grande
Armée, which was decimated by a combination of the
Russian winter, the Russian army and its scorched-earth
tactics. To my knowledge, this is the origin of the term
’scorched earth’ – the retreating Russians burnt anything
that might feed or shelter the French, thereby severely
weakening Napoleon’s army. It unites temperature, time,
geography and number of soldiers, all in one picture.
A Modern Version
Qualitative Data

 Bar graphs – similar to histograms.

 Bars do not touch.
 Categorical groups are on x-axis.
 Pie charts

Where tax money

goes.
Misleading Graphs

 Bars should be equal widths

 Bars should be two-dimensional,
not three-dimensional
 When the lower bound of the y-axis
(frequency) is cut-off (not 0), the
differences are exaggerated.
 Height and width of the graph
should be approximately equal.
Graphs are Used to Persuade

Reagan Bush Clinton Bush

Gallup’s Terry Schiavo Poll
 Who Increased the Debt?
This chart is misleading because it includes
social security as debt. If expressed as a % of
public debt, Bush & Obama would be tied around
60-70%. Obama would look 4 times worse than
Bush and twice as bad as Reagan if this were
expressed as a % of income (GDP).
Misleading Tables
Average score, reading
literacy, PISA, 2009:
Korea 539
Finland 536
Canada 524
New Zealand 521
Japan 520
Australia 515
Netherlands 508
Belgium 506
Norway 503
Estonia 501
Switzerland 501
Poland 500
Iceland 500
United States 500
Sweden 497
Germany 497
Ireland 496
France 496
Denmark 495
United Kingdom 494
Hungary 494
OECD average 493
Portugal 489
Italy 486
Slovenia 483
Greece 483
Spain 481
Czech Republic 478
Slovak Republic 477
Israel 474
Luxembourg 472
Austria 470
Turkey 464
Chile 449
Mexico 425
 How Big are Crime Rates?

Source:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?
storyId=5480227
 How Many Groups (Categories)?

This graph is
misleading
because income
above 200k is
broken into many
sub-categories,
making the 100-
200k group look
larger than higher
income groups.
How it would look if
redrawn.
Comparing Scales (OK)
Misleading Scales

The range of the

scales for these two
variables are too
different to be
compared visually
without being
misleading. The
crossover point at
2004 disappears when
the same range is
used on both scales of
the graph.
More Misleading Graphs

 http://www.coolschool.ca/lor/AMA1
1/unit1/U01L02.htm