Chapter 2: Organization of Information: Frequency Distributions

Frequency Distributions Proportions and Percentages Percentage Distributions Comparisons The Construction of Frequency Distributions
Frequency Distributions for Nominal Variables Frequency Distributions for Ordinal Variables Frequency Distributions for Interval-Ratio Variables

Cumulative Distributions Rates Reading the Research Literature

Basic Principles Tables with a Different Format

Frequency Distributions
A table reporting the number of observations falling into each category of the variable.

Identity Native American Native American of multiple ancestry Native American of Indian descent Total (N)

Frequency (f) 947,500 269,700 5,537,600 6,754,800

Death Penalty Statutes

In 1993, 36 states and Washington, D.C. had statutes permitting capital punishment. Of these 36 states, 27 set a minimum age for execution. Assume you are a member of a legal reform group that is trying to get the states that do not have a minimum age for execution to change their laws. You want to prepare a report describing the minimum age for execution in the 27 states have an established minimum age for execution. (The data are on the following slides.)

Death Penalty Statutes

State Arkansas Virginia Alabama Delaware Indiana Kentucky Mississippi Missouri Nevada Oklahoma Wyoming Georgia New Hampshire North Carolina Minimum Age 14 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 17 17 17 State Texas California Colorado Connecticut Illinois Louisiana Maryland Nebraska New Jersey New Mexico Ohio Oregon Tennessee Minimum Age 17 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18

Source: Kathleen Maguire and Ann L. Pastore, eds., Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. 1994. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995, pp. 115-116.

Creating a Frequency Distribution

Minimum Age 14 15 16 17 18 Total N Tally | | ||||||||| |||| |||||||||||| Frequency 1 1 9 4 12 27

Creating a Frequency Distribution

Minimum Age Frequency 14 1 15 1 16 9 17 4 18 12 Total N 27

Proportions and Percentages

Proportion (P): a relative frequency obtained by dividing the frequency in each category by the total number of cases. Percentage (%): a relative frequency obtained by dividing the frequency in each category by the total number of cases and multiplying by 100. N: total number of cases

f P N

(%) P(100)

Proportions and percentages are relative frequencies

Proportions and Percentages

Minimum Age Frequency 14 1 15 1 16 9 17 4 18 12 Total N 27 Proportion Percentage 1/27=.037 3.7 .037 3.7 .333 33.3 .148 14.8 .444 44.4 1.0 100.0

Percentage Distributions
A table showing the percentage of observations falling into each category of the variable.

Minimum Age 4 15 16 17 18 Total N

Frequency 1 1 9 4 12 27

Percentage 3.7 3.7 33.3 14.8 44.4 100.0

Frequency Distributions for Nominal Variables

Gender Tallies Male ||||||||||||||| Female ||||||||||||||||||||||||| Total (N) Freq. (f) 15 25 40 Percentage 37.5 62.5 100.0

Note:The categories for nominal variables (male, female) need not be listed in any particular order.

Frequency Distributions for Ordinal Variables

Happiness Very Happy Pretty Happy Not too happy Total (N) Tallies Freq. (f) ||||||||| 9 ||||||||||||||||||||||||| 25 |||||| 6 40 Percentage 22.5 62.5 15.0 100.0

Note: Because the categories or values of ordinal variables are rankordered, they must be listed in a way that reflects their rank from the lowest to the highest or from the highest to the lowest.

Employment Status Example

Employment Status Example

Frequency Distributions for Interval-Ratio Variables

Number of Children 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 or more Total (N) Freq. (f) 5 10 10 5 5 1 2 2 40 Percentage 12.5 25.0 25.0 12.5 12.5 2.5 5.0 5.0 100.0

Cumulative Distributions
Sometimes we are interested in locating the relative position of a given score in a distribution. Cumulative frequency distribution: a distribution showing the frequency at or below each category (class interval or score) of the variable. Cumulative percentage distribution: a distribution showing the percentage at or below each category (class interval or score) of the variable.

Cumulative Frequency Distribution

Minimum Age Freq. (f) Percentage Cumulative Frequency

14 15 16 17 18 Total (N)

1 1 9 4 12 27

3.7 3.7 33.3 14.8 44.4 100.0

1 2 11 15 27

* Doesnt total to 100% due to rounding

Cumulative Percentage Distribution

Minimum Age Frequency Percentage Cumulative Percentage

14 15 16 17 18 Total N

1 1 9 4 12 27

3.7 3.7 33.3 14.8 44.4 100.0

3.7 7.4 40.7 55.5 99.9*

* Does not total to 100% due to rounding

Rates
A number obtained by dividing the number of actual occurrences in a given time period by the number of possible occurrences. Whats the problem with the rate computation below?
Marriage rate, 1990 = Number of marriages in 1990 Total population in 1990 2,448,000 marriages 250,000,000 Americans .0098

Marriage rate, 1990 =

Marriage rate, 1990 =

Reading Statistical Tables

Basic principles for understanding what the researcher is trying to tell you: What is the source of the table? How many variables are presented? What are their names? What is represented by the numbers presented in the first column? In the second column?