Summarizing
Data
Q U A L I TAT I V E D ATA
Q U A N T I TAT I V E D ATA
Summarizing Qualitative Data
Frequency Distribution – a tabular summary
of data showing the number (frequency of
items in each of several nonoverlapping
classes.
Summarizing Qualitative Data
Table 1. Data from a sample of 50 soft drinks purchase
Summarizing Qualitative Data
Table 1.2 Frequency Distribution of Soft
Drinks Purchases
Coke Classic 19
Diet Coke 8
Dr. Pepper 5
Pepsi-Cola 13
Sprite 5
n = 50
Summarizing Qualitative Data
Relative Frequency and Percent Distribution -
The relative frequency of a class equals the
fraction or proportion of items belonging to a
class. For a data set with n observations.
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠
𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 =
𝑛
Summarizing Qualitative Data
A relative frequency distribution gives a tabular
summary of data showing the relative
frequency for each class.
A percent frequency distribution summarizes
the percent frequency of the data for each
class.
Summarizing Qualitative Data
Table 1.3 Relative and Percent Frequency Distribution of
Soft Drinks Purchases
Frequency Relative Percent
Soft Drinks For Relative Frequency:
Frequency Frequency
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠
Coke Classic 19 0.38 38 𝑟𝑓 =
𝑛
Diet Coke 8 0.16 16
Dr. Pepper 5 0.10 10 For Percent Frequency:
Pepsi-Cola 13 0.26 26 𝑝𝑓 = 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 × 100
Sprite 5 0.10 10
Summarizing Qualitative Data
Table 1.3. Bar Graph of Soft Drinks Purchases Table 1.4 Pie Chart of Soft Drinks Purchases
Summarizing Quantitative Data
The three steps necessary to define the classes for a
frequency distribution with quantitative data are:
1. Determine the number of nonoverlapping classes.
2. Determine the width of each class.
3. Determine the class limits.
Summarizing Quantitative Data
For example the data show the time in days required to complete
year-end audits for a sample of 20 clients of Roxas Cruz Tagle &
Co, a public accounting firm.
Table 1.5 Year-End Audit Times (in Days)
1. Determine the number of
nonoverlapping classes.
2. Determine the width of each class.
3. Determine the class limits.
Summarizing Quantitative Data
Number of Classes. Classes are formed by specifying ranges that will
be used to group the data. As a general guideline, we recommend
using between 5 and 20 classes. For a small number of data items,
as few as five or six classes may be used to summarize the data. For
a larger number of data items, a larger number of classes is usually
required. The goal is to use enough classes to show the variation in
the data, but not so many classes that some contain only a
few data items.
Summarizing Quantitative Data
Width of the Classes. To determine an approximate class
width, we begin by identifying the largest and
smallest data values. Then, with the desired number of
classes specified, we can use the following expression to
determine the approximate class width.
Summarizing Quantitative Data
Table 1.5 Year-End Audit Times (in Days)
Larger Value = 33
Smallest Value = 12
33 − 12
𝑐𝑤 = = 4.2 𝑜𝑟 𝟓
20
Summarizing Quantitative Data
Table 1.6. Frequency Distribution for
the Audit Time Data
Audit Time (days) Frequency
10 – 14 4
15 – 19 Number
8
20 – 24 of 5
25 – 29 classes
2
30 – 34 1
Class width/interval
Summarizing Quantitative Data
Table 1.7. Relative Frequency and Percent
Frequency Distribution for the Audit Time Data
Audit Time Relative Percent For Relative Frequency:
Frequency 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠
(days) frequency Frequency 𝑟𝑓 =
𝑛
10 – 14 4 0.20 20
15 – 19 8 0.40 40 For Percent Frequency:
20 – 24 5 0.25 25 𝑝𝑓 = 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 × 100
25 – 29 2 0.10 10
30 – 34 1 0.05 5
Summarizing Quantitative Data
Table 1.8. Histogram of the Audit Time Data
Summarizing Quantitative Data
Cumulative Distributions - A variation of the frequency distribution
that provides another tabular summary of quantitative data is the
cumulative frequency distribution. The cumulative frequency
distribution uses the number of classes, class widths, and class limits
developed for the frequency distribution. However, rather than
showing the frequency of each class, the cumulative frequency
distribution shows the number of data items with values less than or
equal to the upper class limit of each class.
Summarizing Quantitative Data
A cumulative relative frequency distribution shows the
proportion of data items, and a cumulative percent
frequency distribution shows the percentage of data items
with values less than or equal to the upper limit of each
class.
Summarizing Quantitative Data
Table 1.9. Cumulative Frequency, Cumulative Relative Frequency and Cumulative
Percent Frequency Distributions for the Audit Time Data
