Displaying the order in a group of numbers using tables and graphs
Practice Problem
A particular block in a suburban
neighborhood has 20 households. The number of children in these households is as follows:
2, 4, 2, 1, 0, 3, 6, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 2, 0, 1, 2, 1,
0, 2, 2
Make (a) a frequency table, (b) a group frequency table, and (c) a histogram.
Then, (d) describe the general shape of the distribution (skew and modality BOTH!).
Frequency Table
# of Children
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Frequency
Frequency Table
# of Children
Frequency
0
4
1
5
2
7
3
2
4
1
5
0
6
1
7
0
Frequency Table
Remember: Frequency Tables should go to
zero &/or include all possible numbers; NO
MISSING NUMBERS IN SERIES!
Group Frequency Tables
# of Children
0-2
3-5
6-8
Frequency
Group Frequency Tables
# of Children
Frequency
0-2
16
3-5
3
6-8
1
Group Frequency Tables
Grouped Frequency Tables must go to
zero &/or have equal intervals!
This may mean add an additional number or
two for the last group to be equal
Standard size is 3-5 numbers
Histogram
Histogram
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Histogram
Histogram
8
7
6
5
Axis Title 4
3
2
1
0
0
1
2
3
4
Axis Title
5
6
7
Histograms
Put all possible values (x’s) along the
bottom of the page, left to right, lowest to highest Make a scale of frequencies along the left edge from 0 to highest frequency
Make a bar above each value for a histogram Histogram bars must be touching (except
nominal data)
Skew & Modality
Determine the if there is a skew, and if so
which direction.
Determine the modality of the distribution.
Skew & Modality
(d) Unimodal, positively skewed (or skewed
to the right).
Shapes of frequency distributions Modality
Unimodal: one main high point
Bimodal: 2 fairly equal high points
Multimodal: 2 or more high points
Rectangular: values of all about the same
frequency
Normality
Symmetrical
Skewed distribution
Can be skewed to the right (positive) or left (negative)
Skew is important – be sure you understand how to identify it
SPSS Fun Time!
Assume that these are employment test and performance scores for 15 accountants in a large accounting firm. These people were all hired 1 year ago. During the hiring process, they were given an Accounting Aptitude Test (scored from 0100), an Interview (which was scored from
1-poor to 10excellent candidate), and put through a 2-hour Accounting
Simulation, where they encountered real-life accounting dilemmas for which they were to suggest solutions. The number of Errors they made in the simulation (0-excellent to
5-poor) were recorded. After being on the job for 1 year, their performance was rated by their supervisor (scored from
1-very poor to 10-outstanding). It was hoped that the 3 employment “tests” would predict the applicants’