Frequency Distributions and Graphic Displays of Data Paper Example

Introduction

Graphic display of data enables visualization of data as well as in making the readers of articles easily comprehend the research findings. One of the ways in which data can be graphically displayed is through the use of a bar chart. A bar chart is the most effective way of displaying the results of ANOVA, paired-samples t-test (dependent t-test), and an independent-samples t-test. Bar graphs are useful in comparing the frequencies of various attributes (Auerbach & Zeitlin, 2015; Beatty, 2016; Diehl, 2016; Vallabhaneni, 2018).

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In General Social Survey dataset, a bar chart can be created to show the relationship between Marital Status (Married, Widowed, Divorced, Separated, and Never Married) and TVhours (hours per day watching TV). To create a bar chart showing how TVhours varies across Marital Status, I opened General Social Survey dataset, then clicked on the Graphs icon, then on the Chart Builder option. After that, I selected the 'Bar' option in the Gallery and selected and dragged Simple Bar Chart icon. After that, I transferred the independent variable (Marital Status) to the X-Axis and the dependent variable (TVhours) to the Y-Axis. After that, I clicked 'OK.' This resulted in the generation of the bar chart shown in Figure 1 below. As shown in Figure 1 below, the Never Married group had the highest mean TV hours per week while the Widowed had the lowest mean TVhours per week.

Another way in which data can be graphically displayed in SPSS is through the use of a pie chart used for encoding data as angles of the slices (Amr & Stamboliyska, 2016). A pie chart is used for displaying data through the display of frequencies and proportions as portions of a circle (Landers, 2018, Selvanathan, Selvanathan, & Keller, 2016). For instance, in General, Social Survey dataset, a pie chart can be created in the SPSS to show how family income is distributed based on whether a person is either an American or not. In this case, the variables of interest include You a Citizen of America (categorized as Yes or No) and Family Income in Constant $. Figure 2 below shows that a large percentage of American citizens have a higher income as shown on the pie chart. On the other hand, non-American citizens have lower income as indicated by a smaller proportion of in Figure 2 below.

Good and Bad Features of the Figures Created Above

As shown in Figure 2 above, some of the good attributes of a pie chart include clarity, and use of different colors to represent different proportions or relative sizes of family income. On the other hand, the bad attributes of the above pie chart include failure to indicate the proportions or percentages of the Yes and No group. That is, even though it can be seen that the Yes group has a higher percentage than the No, the graph does not show real percentages. Also, the useful features of the bar chart shown in Figure 1 above include it can easily appeal to a reader with no statistical background (Mubarak, 2015). Another advantage of the bar chart is that it is easy to see differences in the independent variable per each of the groups (Marital status). However, its major disadvantage is the failure to show the exact values associated with each of the groups.

References

Amr, T., & Stamboliyska, R. (2016). Practical D3.js. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Apress.

Auerbach, C., & Zeitlin, W. (2015). Making your case: using r for program evaluation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Beatty, C. F. (2016). Community oral health practice for the dental hygienist - e-book. Maryland Heights, MO: Elsevier Health Sciences.

Diehl, J. J. (2016). McGraw-Hill education sat subject test math level 2, fourth edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional.

Landers, R. N. (2018). A step-by-step introduction to statistics for business. SAGE Publications.

Mubarak, S. A. (2015). Construction project scheduling and control. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Selvanathan, E. A., Selvanathan, S., & Keller, G. (2016). Business statistics abridged: australia new zealand with student resource access for 12 months. Boston, MA: Cengage Publishing.

Vallabhaneni, S. R. (2018). Wiley CIA exam review 2019, part 2: practice of internal auditing (Wiley CIA exam review series). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.