Central Luzon State University

Science City of Muñoz 3120

Nueva Ecija, Philippines

Instructional Module for the Course

PSYCH 2104 Psychological Statistics

Prepared by: Robinson Z. Lumontod III

E-mail Address: robinsonlumontodiii@clsu.edu.ph
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Module 1

I. Title: Data Presentation Using Graphs and Tables

II. Overview

In this module, we will explore ways to correctly and appropriately

organize the numerical data using tables and graphs. As you complete this
module, you will be able to correctly decide which data presentation
technique is best or most appropriate to use for your research.

III. Objectives

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

a. be familiarized and knowledgeable about different techniques in
presenting numerical data
b. be able to choose and utilize the best data presentation technique suited
for the numerical data at hand

IV. Discussion

Statistics is a branch of mathematics whose main focus is to organize, analyze, and

interpret a group of numbers. You might have encountered statistics before in your high
school years. You might also have had used the concepts and formulas in doing statistical
analysis in your mini-research. In psychology, statistics play a very important role in
understanding and predicting human behavioral tendencies. This is the main reason why
psychologists and researchers of this field heavily rely on statistics in making sense of
their obtained data.

Two Branches of Statistical Methods

Basically, there are two main branches of statistical methods:

1. Descriptive Statistics
This method allows you to describe the nature of the data at hand and group
them in their respective categories.

2. Inferential Statistics

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Inferential statistics are used to explain and study a population of interest using a
sample. Therefore, the data is coming from a smaller number of individuals from the
population of interest. Then, from the data gathered from the sample, one makes
inferences or conclusions. Inferential statistics allow you to go beyond the numbers in
making generalizations about the population under study.

The Basic Concept

Variable

Variables are any conditions or characteristics which values can vary across
situations. There are many psychological variables you can study. Some examples are
stress, depression, intelligence, happiness, wellbeing, monthly income, and the list goes
on and on. In quantitative psychological research, however, you need to make sure that
all variables are clearly defined and quantifiable. Meaning, they should be measurable.
We will talk about different variable examples throughout this course. I hope that you
will enjoy the journey.

Kinds of Variables (Levels of Measurement)

Generally, there are four types of variables or kinds of variables we’ll be talking
about in this module. As a psychology student, you need to understand each of the
variables. You will learn why as we progress. But for now, I want you to pay close
attention to every detail.

So, without further ado, let’s discuss the four kinds of variables.

1. Nominal

Simply put, nominal variables are categorical variables in which numerical values
attached to them are just labels. The purpose of the numerical values is for identification
or labeling. Examples of these variables are sex, religion, hair color, and college degree
or courses.

2. Ordinal

Ordinal variables are those in which values can be ranked. This is the reason why
it is sometimes called the ranking variables. Examples of these are academic rank, police
rank, military rank, college year level, etc. As you can see, ordinal variables follow an
order or ranking.

3. Interval variable

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Interval variables are those that have no absolute zero. This means that zero value
is not the absence of something or the variable being measured. Thus, in interval level,
zero is meaningful as well as the distance between two values. Examples of interval
variables are temperature (Fahrenheit and Celcius) pH, CLSU entrance exam score (50-
60), the credit score (250-500). With interval variables, you can get the mean or average
of the data something that you cannot do with ordinal variables.

4. Ratio Variable

Ratio variables are those that have an absolute zero. With ratio variables, zero
means the absence of the variable. Examples of ratio variables are height, allowance,
fare rate, distance, test score, number of fruits in a basket, number of students in the
classroom, etc.

As a psychology student, you need to familiarize and have a good understanding

of the levels of measurements. This is because, in all of your statistical analyses that you
will do in psychological research undertakings, these concepts will be applied. The
decision as to what statistical method you will be using is determined by the nature or
level of measurement of the data at hand. Therefore, the mislabeling of your variables
will often result in wrong statistical methods and questionable results.

Another categorization of variables is discreet and continuous. You might also have
had encountered these terms in your high school years. Discreet variables are those
variables whose values are specific. They don’t have values in between the two values.
Simply put, they always have whole numbers. Examples of discreet variables are the
number of siblings, number of students present, number of boyfriends or girlfriends ( too
hot), etc. Continuous variables, on the other hand, are those with (in theory) an
infinite number of values between any two given values. Examples of this are height,
weight, time spends in reading this module, time spent in listening to music, etc.

Frequency Distribution Tables

A. Ungrouped Frequency Distribution Table

An ungrouped frequency distribution table allows you to summarize the values and
their frequency within the numerical data set. This is a great way to present data if you
have a list of numbers that are likely to occur from a certain sample distribution. This is
the basic format and applicable for a small sample size.
To make a frequency distribution table, you can begin with three columns. The first
column indicates the various possible outcomes from the data set, the second column
indicates the frequency of each outcome as indicated in the first column, and the third
column indicates the percentage. A frequency distribution table makes the data easier
to understand. For instance, if you want to know the exact number of male and female
students in a certain class, you can make the following simple table.

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Students Frequency Percentage

Male 23 46%
Female 27 54%

You can make a similar table for other nominal variables such as religion, sex,
marital status, educational attainment, etc.

B. Grouped Frequency Distribution Table

A grouped frequency distribution table is a little bit different from an ordinary

ungrouped distribution table. The grouped distribution table uses intervals to summarize
the numbers or outcomes in the data set. It is more appropriate to use when you are
dealing with a big sample size that is higher than 30. A grouped frequency table provides
an even more meaningful and clearer presentation of the data.

To make a grouped frequency table, you need to decide or experiment with the
interval size (Aron, Coups, & Aron, 2013). You can have 5 to 20 intervals. Let’s look at
the example table below.

Grouped Frequency Table

Interval Lower/Upper Limit Frequency Percent

0-4 -.5 – 4.5 2 6.7
5-9 4.5 – 9.5 3 10
10-14 9.5 – 14.5 3 10
15-19 14.5 – 19.5 11 36.7
20-24 19.5 – 24.5 8 26.7
25-29 24.5 – 29.5 3 10

As you can see, the grouped frequency table above uses six intervals with an
interval size of 5. Each interval represents each row of the table which also contains a
bracket of scores. Each interval always has the lower and upper limits. The first interval
(as shown in the table above) has -.5 as the lower limit, and 4.5 as the upper limit
(subtracting .5 from 0 and adding .5 to 4). You can follow the same way for figuring the
lower and upper limits for the rest of the intervals.

Quick Reminders in Making Intervals

1. The number of intervals should be between 5 and 20.

2. Make sure that no number belongs to two or more different intervals.
3. All numbers in the data set must be included.
4. There will be no gaps in the distribution.
5. The intervals must have an equal size.

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Make a grouped frequency distribution table by following the steps below:

1. Arrange the data from the smallest to the largest values

2. Get the range by subtracting the lowest from the highest value
3. Choose the number of intervals (this may involve trial and error) usually
between 5 and 20
4. Calculate the interval size by dividing the range by the chosen number of
intervals (make sure to round up not round off)
5. Start the first interval with a value equal to or less than the lowest value or
score in the data set. Then work from there to complete the set intervals
6. Tally the data
7. List the frequency of each interval

Another Example of Grouped Frequency Table

In this example, suppose that we are interested in finding out how many times
college students use their smartphones when studying their lessons. Part of the
instructions was to have students record their smartphone use when studying for one
week. 94 college students participated in the study. The number of smartphone use for
each student over a week were as follows:

48, 15, 33, 3, 21, 19, 17, 16, 44, 25, 30, 3, 5, 9, 35, 32, 26, 13, 14, 14, 47,
47, 18, 11, 5, 19, 24, 17, 6, 25, 8, 18, 29, 1, 18, 22, 3, 22, 29, 2, 6, 10, 29,
10, 29, 21, 38, 41, 16, 17, 8, 40, 8, 10, 18, 7, 4, 4, 8, 11, 3, 23, 10, 19, 21,
13, 12, 10, 4, 17, 11, 21, 9, 8, 7, 5, 3, 22, 14, 25, 4, 11, 10, 18, 1, 28, 27, 19,
24, 35, 9, 30, 8, 26.

Step 1. Arrange the numbers from lowest to highest

Step 2. Compute for the range by subtracting the lowest from the highest value
Range = H – L
Range = 47
Step 3. Choose the number of intervals (In this example, we chose 10)
Step 4. Calculate the interval size by dividing the range by the chosen number of
intervals

Interval Size = Range

Number of intervals
= 47
10
= 4.7 (always remember to round up)
=5
Our interval size in this case is 5. We can now start making our grouped
frequency table.

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Interval Frequency Percentage

0-4 12 12.77
5-9 16 17.02
10-14 16 17.02
15-19 16 17.02
20-24 10 10.64
25-29 11 11.70
30-34 4 4.26
35-39 3 3.19
40-44 3 3.19
45-49 3 3.19

Graph

A graph is another great way to present data in a meaningful way. It is more

effective in large sample sizes. The most commonly used graph in psychological research
is the histogram. A histogram is pretty much a bar graph. The only difference is that in
the histogram, the bars are laid next to each other without having space in between
something that a bar graph has (Aron, Coups, & Aron, 2013). The histogram uses the
frequency values in the y-axis and the measured variable in the x-axis. You can make a
histogram based on the grouped frequency table distribution by plotting the frequencies
on the y-axis and the measured variables on the x-axis. Then draw connected bar graphs
based on the values from the x and the y-axis. Below is a histogram example based on
the first grouped frequency table above.

12

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2.5 7.5 12.5 17.5 22.5 27.5

As you can see, the histogram above does not have space between bars. The Y
axis represents the frequency and the X axis represents the variable being measured.

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How to Make a Histogram?

The following are the common steps applied in making histogram:

1. Make a frequency grouped frequency table.

2. Put the values along the bottom of the page, from left to right, from lowest to
highest.
3. Create a scale of frequencies on the left (Y axis).
4. Make a bar above each value with height for the frequency of that value.

Another Example of Histogram

In this example, let’s make a histogram based on the second grouped frequency
table.

16

14

12
Frequency

10

2.5 7.5 12.5 17.5 22.5 27.5 32.5 37.5 42.5 47.5

Number of Smartphone Usage

Shapes of Frequency Distributions

The histogram is very important in describing the nature of the data in terms of
its shape or pattern. Psychologists usually use histograms to describe the pattern of
frequencies across the observed values.

Types of Frequency Distributions

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Generally, there are four basic types of frequency distributions: unimodal, bimodal,
multimodal, and rectangular. A frequency distribution is unimodal if it has one high
point. If the frequency distribution has two approximately equal high points, then it
is bimodal. A frequency distribution that has more than two high points are
called multimodal. Lastly, if the values in the distribution are fairly the same, the
distribution is considered rectangular distribution.

Symmetrical and Skewed Distributions

Asymmetrical distribution is the one in which values are somewhat normally or

equally distributed. Meaning that if you fold the distribution in the middle, you will get a
fairly equal number of observations on both ends. A skewed distribution, on the other
hand, is a distribution that is not symmetrical. The skewed distribution represents the
area where most scores are located. The area that has fewer scores is the direction of
the skew. Thus, if the left side of the distribution has fewer scores, it can be
called skewed to the left distribution. When there are fewer scores on the right side
of the distribution it is considered skewed to the right distribution.

Skewed to the left Skewed to the right

Additional Learning Materials

Video presentations

 Describing Data Using Graphs and Tables

 A Beginner’s Guide to Graphing Data

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Journal article
 Presenting Data in Tables and Charts

Online Resources

 Effective Tables and Graphs in Official Statistics

 Types of Graphs Used in Math and Statistics

V. Assessment

Module Quiz

Answer the following question. Note the that question below will be graded according to
the following Rubrics:

Structure Content/information
5 = Exceeds Expectations 5 = Exceeds Expectations
3 = Meets Expectations 3 = Meets Expectations
1 = Needs Improvement 1 = Needs Improvement

Grammar/mechanics Originality
5 = Exceeds Expectations 5 = 100% Original
3 = Meets Expectations 3 = 90% original
1 = Needs Improvement 0 = 11% or more, plagiarized

This is a 20-point quiz. Answer the question thoroughly. Give your answer in not more
than 300 words.

Question:

What is the best way to present data? Why?

VI. References

Aron, A., Coups, E. J., & Aron, A. N. (2013). Statistics for Psychology: Sixth Edition.
Pearson Education, Inc.

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