TIPS AND EXAMPLES FOR DESCRIBING DISTRIBUTIONS (HISTOGRAMS)] September 7, 2013

When describing a histogram you should, where possible, include the following items in your discussion. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Who or what are the items that were measured What was the variable of interest When the measurement was done Where the measurement was done How the measurement was done Shape of the distribution Outliers whether present or not. Centre of the distribution using average or median as appropriate Spread of the distribution using standard deviation or interquartile range as appropriate.

I will use the overall age distribution histogram from question 1 as an example. Here is the histogram for overall age.
100 90 80 70 Frequency 60

50
40 30 20 10 0 25 30 35 40 45 Age 50 55 60 65

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Who: 500 respondents in the sample from the annual demographic survey What: Age in years When: unknown Where: Unknown (it was actually in the United States) How: survey carried out by the Bureau of Labour Statistics Shape: moderate right skew and unimodal Outliers: none apparent Centre: median (41) because of the skew Spread: IQR (15) because we are using median for centre

When you have this information you are ready to write your summary. See the next page for how this should be presented in you assignment submission. Also note that your data file will give different results.

Prepared by: Graeme Byrne, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, LTU, Bendigo

TIPS AND EXAMPLES FOR DESCRIBING DISTRIBUTIONS (HISTOGRAMS)] September 7, 2013

Question 1
Overall Age Distribution The histogram in Figure 1 shows the age distribution of the 500 survey respondents in the sample from the annual demographic survey carried out by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. The distribution has a moderate right skew, is unimodal and does not appear to have any outliers. The median age of respondents was 41 years and the interquartile range was 15 years. Further details are contained in the five number summary f or respondents age in Table 1 below.
100 90 80 70 Frequency 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 25 30 35 40 45 Age 50 55 60 65

Figure 1: Histogram of survey respondents age

Measure Minimum First Quartile Median Third Quartile Maximum

Value (years) 25 34 41 49 65

Table 1: Five number summary of respondents' age

Prepared by: Graeme Byrne, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, LTU, Bendigo

TIPS AND EXAMPLES FOR DESCRIBING DISTRIBUTIONS (HISTOGRAMS)] September 7, 2013

For a second example I will use the overall income distribution histogram from question 2. Here is the histogram for overall income.
100 90 80 70 Frequency 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10000 40000 90000 140000 190000 240000 290000 340000 Income ($)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Who: 500 respondents in the sample from the annual demographic survey What: Income in dollars When: unknown Where: Unknown (it was actually in the United States) How: survey carried out by the Bureau of Labour Statistics Shape: Severe right skew and unimodal Outliers: outliers at about $240,000 and $330,000 Centre: median ($30,236) because of the skew Spread: IQR ($31,560) because we are using median for centre

When you have this information you are ready to write your summary. See the next page for how this should be presented in you assignment submission.

Prepared by: Graeme Byrne, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, LTU, Bendigo

TIPS AND EXAMPLES FOR DESCRIBING DISTRIBUTIONS (HISTOGRAMS)] September 7, 2013

Question 2
Overall Income distribution The histogram in Figure 2 shows the income distribution of the 500 survey respondents in the sample from the annual demographic survey carried out by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. The distribution has a severe right skew, is unimodal and has outliers at about $240,000 and $330,000. The median income is $30,236 and the interquartile range is $31,560. Further details are contained in the five number summary for respondents income in Table 2 below.
100 90 80 70 Frequency 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10000 40000 90000 140000 190000 240000 290000 340000 Income ($)

Figure 2: Histogram of survey respondents' income.

Measure Minimum First Quartile Median Third Quartile Maximum

Value ($) -9650 16640 30236 48200 329306

Table 2: Five number summary of respondents' income ($)

Prepared by: Graeme Byrne, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, LTU, Bendigo