MODULE 1: DATA Descriptive Statistics for

Socioeconomic Factors I :
Frequency Tables & Measures of

MANAGEMENT Central Tendency (Mean, Median,

Mode)
WHAT IS FREQUENCY?

f
A particular data value is the number of times
the data value occurs.
Student A = 80 marks
Student B = 80 marks
Student C = 80 marks
Student D = 80 marks
For example, if four students have a score of 80 in mathematics, and then the score of 80
is said to have a frequency of 4.  The frequency of a data value is often represented by f.
WHAT IS FREQUENCY TABLE?
A frequency table is constructed by arranging collected
data values in ascending order of magnitude with their
corresponding frequencies.
Example 1
The marks awarded for an assignment set for a Year 8 class of
20 students were as follows:

     6     7     5     7     7     8     7     6     9     7
     4     10   6     8     8     9     5     6     4     8

Present this information in a frequency table.

 6     7     5     7     7     8     7     6     9     7
4     10   6     8     8     9     5     6     4     8

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Construct a table with To complete the second Count the number of

three columns.  Then in
the first column, write
down all of the data
values in ascending
order of magnitude.
column, go through the list tally marks for each data
of data values and place value and write it in the
one tally mark at the third column.
appropriate place in the
second column for every
data value.  When the fifth
tally is reached for a mark,
draw a horizontal line
through the first four tally
marks as shown for 7 in
the above frequency table. 
We continue this process
 The number of calls from motorists per day for roadside
service was recorded for the month of December 2003.
28     122     217      130     120     86      80     90     120
140     70   40      145     187     113     90     68     174
94 170 100 75 104 97 75 123 100

82 109 120 81
Class Intervals (or Groups)
When the set of data values are spread out, it is difficult to set up a frequency table
 for every data value as there will be too many rows in the table.  So we group the
data into class intervals (or groups) to help us organise, interpret and analyse the
data.

Ideally, we should have between five and ten rows in a frequency table.  Bear this in
mind when deciding the size of the class interval (or group).
Each group starts at a data value that is a multiple of that group.  For example, if the
size of the group is 5, then the groups should start at 5, 10, 15, 20 etc.  Likewise, if
the size of the group is 10, then the groups should start at 10, 20, 30, 40 etc.

The frequency of a group (or class interval) is the number of data values that fall in

The number of calls from motorists per day for roadside service was
recorded for the month of December 2003.
28     122     217      130     120     86      80     90     120
140     70   40      145     187     113     90     68     174
94 170 100 75 104 97 75 123 100

82 109 120 81
Smallest data value = 28
Highest data value = 217
Different = Highest value – Smallest value
= 217 – 28
= 189

Let the width of the class interval be 40.

Number of class interval = 180/40 = 4.7 = 5 (round up the integer)

There are at least 5 class intervals. This is reasonable for the given
data.
The number of calls from motorists per day for roadside service was
recorded for the month of December 2003.
28     122     217      130     120     86      80     90     120
140     70   40      145     187     113     90     68     174
94 170 100 75 104 97 75 123 100

82 109 120 81 Step 2

Step 1

Step 3
Statistical Measures
In this section we recap the statistical
measures mean, median, mode and range.
The mean, median and mode give an indication of the 'average' value of a
set of data, i.e. some idea of a typical value. The range, however,
provides information on how spread out the data is, i.e. how varied it is.

Mean Mode
Media
n
 cf fx ∑fx %
Mean = sum of all data
number of values
Mode = most common value

Median = middle value when data is arranged in order

Range = Largest value – smallest value
 EXERCISE 1 – CONSTRUCT FREQUENCY TABLE & FIND
MEAN, MODE AND MEDIAN
Number of shoe size available in shop.
Shoe Size Frequency Frequency × Size 1. Mode = 6
(i.e. the size with
x f (f x) highest frequency)
4 2 2×4=8
2. Median = 7+7 = 7
5 4 4 × 5 = 20
2
6 7 7 × 6 = 42
3. Mean = ∑fx = 210
Exercise! 7 5 5 × 7 = 35 ∑f 30

8 6 6 × 8 = 48 = 7
9 3 3 × 9 = 27
10 3 3 × 10 = 30

Total 30 210
 EXERCISE 2 – CONSTRUCT FREQUENCY TABLE &
FIND MEAN, MODE
Construct frequency table & calculate:
AND MEDIAN
(a) How many journeys have been included?
(b) What is the modal of the group?
(c) Estimate the mean number of minutes the train late for these journeys.
(d) Estimate the probability of a train being more than 20 minutes late on this service

Minutes Late Frequency

BL Activity:
Snap your
answers and on time 19
Data on the number of minutes
upload to
1-5 12 that a particular train service was
ilearn!
6-10 9 late have been summarised in the
table. (Times are given to the
11-20 4 nearest minute.)
21-40 4
41-60 2
over 60 0
MODULE 1: DATA Descriptive Statistics for
Socioeconomic Factors II :

MANAGEMENT Measures of Dispersion

SOMETIMES MEAN, MEDIAN AND
MODE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO REFLECT
THE TRUE PICTURE OF SOME DATA.
Variance:
• A measure of how spread out a data set is. It is calculated as the
average squared deviation of each number from the mean of a data set.

Variance(S2) = Average squared deviation of

values from mean.
Standard Deviation:
• The measure of spread most commonly used in statistical practice
when the mean is used to calculate central tendency.
• Thus it measures spread around the mean. Because of its close links
with the mean, standard deviation can be greatly affected if the mean
gives a poor measure of central tendency
• Standard deviation is also useful when comparing the spread of two
separate data sets that have approximately the same mean.
• The data set with the smaller standard deviation has a narrower spread
of measurements around the mean and therefore usually has
comparatively fewer high or low values
• The standard deviation for a discrete variable made up of n
observations is the positive square root of the variance and is defined
as
And Calculations :
Data in a Frequency Table

Steps:
1. Calculate the mean
2. Subtract the mean from each observation
3. Square each of resulting observations
4. Add these squared results together
5. Divide this total by the number of observations(variance S2)
6. Use the positive square root(standard deviation,S)
Standard Deviation from frequency table: 

Coefficient of Variation:
This is the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean:
The Relative
Position of
the
Mean,
Median
and
Mode
ASSIGNMENT 1: CALCULATION ON
MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY &
MEASURE OF DISPERSION: HANDS-ON
(10%)
1. Students need to do some calculation based on the instruction
given
2. This assignment needs students to apply the calculation using
Microsoft excel
3. Submission is trough ilearn
Students will be introduced to the descriptive statistics, and types of data available to use
for analysis. Students are required to search from books, newspapers or the internet to find
suitable raw data or group data for this assignment. This assignment provides exercise for
basic statistics and familiarize students on calculating and analysing the data using the
Microsoft Excel.
 
Frequency Table & Measures of Central Tendency (Mean, Median, Mode) – 5%
Find 5 sets of raw data or group data on the internet. (Example, data for age, heights, weight, income and
others). Perform the following tasks:- 
1. Construct frequency Table
2. Shows the percentage for the data.
3. Find mean, median and mode.
4. Application of Microsoft Excel
  
Measures of Dispersion (Standard Deviation, Variance) – 5%
Continue using the same data and calculate:
5. Calculate Standard Deviation
6. Calculate the Variance
7. Display suitable graph (Pie chart, histogram, etc.)
8. Display Normal Distribution Chart to show data skewness
 EXAMPLE OF TABLE CONSTRUCTION IN EXCEL
RAW DATA OR GROUPED DATA (REMINDER: PLEASE
1 STATE SUITABLE REFERENCES)
6 10 8 2
11 15 13 6
16 20 18 4
21 25 23 8

TRANSLATE TO FREQUENCY TABLE

2 Interval x f % fx Cf
Data High Frequency x Cumulative
Low range Midpoint frequency Percentage
range Value Frequency
1- 5 1 5 3 5 15 5
6 - 10 6 10 8 2   16 7
11 - 15 11 15 13 6   78 13
16 -20 16 20 18 4   72 17
21 - 25 21 25 23 8   184 25
26 -30 26 30 28 5   140 30