Summarizing data

Objectives
By the end of this lecture, the student should be able
to
• Describe data by tables, charts and graphs
• Knows the steps to construct histogram
• Differentiate between Proportions, Rates &
Ratios.
• Knows the measures of central tendency
(measures of central location), its advantages and
disadvantages of each.
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Tables.
Graphs.
Measures of Central
Tendency.

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 Describing data with tables
1. Frequency table
2. Relative and cumulative frequency
3. Grouped frequency table
4. Cross-tabulation(contingency tables)
5. Non - contingency tables

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 Frequency table
The following data: ages of patients admitted to hospital with
poliomyelitis
8,24,18,5,6,12,4,3,3,2,3,23,9,18,16,12,3,5,11,13,15,9,11,11,7,10,6,9,5,16,20,4,3,3,3,10,
3,2,1,6,9,3,7,14,8,1,4,6,4,15,22,2,14,7,1,12,3,23,4,19,6,2,2,4,14,2,2,
21,3,2,9,3,2,1,7,19

variables frequency

frequency tally Age group

28 0-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20-24
total
5
 Age Number of Deaths
( frequency)
0-<1 564
1-<5 86
5-<15 127
15-<25 490
25-<35 66
35-<45 806
45-<55 1,425
55-<65 3,511
65-<75 6,932
75-<85 10,101
85+ 9825
Total 34,524
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(2) Relative frequency, cumulative frequency
parity No. of women Percentage% Cumulative
(relative percentage%
frequency)
0 5 12.5 (n=5) 12.5

1 6 15 (n=11) 27.5

2 14 35 (n=25) 62.5

3 10 25 (n=35) 87.5

4 3 7.5 (n=38) 95

7 1 2.5 (n=39) 97.5

8 1 2.5 (n=40) 100

Total 40 100

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 Grouped frequency

Variable Birth weight No. of infants

A group interval 2500-2899 2
of 400 g width
3000-3399 3
The class
lower limit 3400-3899 9
3900-3899 9
The class Total 23
upper limit

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 Number of Intervals
• There is no clear-cut rule on the number of
intervals or classes that should be used.
• Too many intervals – the data may not be
summarized enough for a clear visualization of
how they are distributed.
• Too few intervals – the data may be over-
summarized and some of the details of the
distribution may be lost.

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 Cross-tabulation
(contingency table) 2 by 2
Breast lump Women with 2 children or less Totals
diagnosis
Yes (%) No(%)

Benign 21(84%) 11(73%) 32(80%)

Malignant 4 (16%) 4(27%) 8(20%)

Total 25(100%) 15(100%) 40(100%)

1. A two-way table (contingency table) is a useful tool for examining

relationships between categorical variables.
2. The entries in the cells can be numbers or relative frequencies 
3. Women with 2 or less children has more benign breast lump.
4. The malignant lumps are not influenced by parity 10
 Contingency tables(2 by 2)
Outcome
Group 1 (n=106) Group II
(breast cancer) (n=226)(no breast
cancer)
Ever use of oral Yes 40 38% 138 61%
contraceptive No 66 62% 88 39%
(Exposure)
Totals 106 100% 226 100%

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 Contingency tables(2 by 4)
Outcome ( number of cases)

Non-Fatal
Fatal Heart
Cancers Heart Healthy Total
Disease
Disease
Factor of diet

Non healthy 15 24 25 239 303

Healthy 7 14 8 273 302

Total 22 38 33 512 605

Describing data with charts or graphs

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Graphs for categorical ( nominal) data
 The pie chart
• 4-5 categories
• One variable
• Start in the same order as the table
Frequency

0-4
5--9
10--14
15--19
20--24

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 Simple bar chart

• One variable
Bar Chart: Hair colar of the chidren
• Same widths
receiving d-phenothrin
• Equal spaces between
60
bars
55

50

40

30
21
18
20

10 4
0
blonde brown red dark

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 Clustered bar chart
• Two of more variable
Cluster percetage bar chart of the hair
color receiving Malathion and d-
phenothrin

60 56
52
50

40 blonde
28 brown
30
22 red
20 16 18
dark

10 4 4
0
malathion d-penothrin

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 Stacked bar chart
Smoking status of nursing mothers • Two or more variables

100%
90%
80%
70%
Non-
60% smokers
50% Fomer
smokers
40%
Smokers
30%
20%
10%
0%
Breast-fed Bottle-fed

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Graphs for continuous data
 Histograms
• Blood pressure data on a sample of 113 men
20
15
Number of Men
10
5
0

80 100 120 140 160

Systolic BP (mmHg)

Histogram of the Systolic Blood Pressure for 113 men. Each bar
spans a width of 5 mmHg on the horizontal axis. The height of each
bar represents the number of individuals with SBP in that range.
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 Histograms

60
Number of Men
40
20
0

80 100 120 140 160

Systolic BP (mmHg)

Another histogram of the blood pressure of 113 men. In this graph,

each bar has a width of 20 mmHg, and there are a total of only 5
bars making it hard to characterize the distribution of blood
pressures in the sample.
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 Histograms

6
Number of Men
4
2
0

80 100 120 140 160

Systolic BP (mmHg)

Yet another histogram of the same BP information on 113 men.

Here, the bin width is 1 mmHg, perhaps giving more detail than is
necessary.
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 Width of Intervals
• Without some specific reason, the intervals should
all be the same width.

R
• Common width =W=
k
where:
R = range of the data
k = the number of intervals (e.g groups of ages)

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 Consideration when Determining Width

• Width should be chosen so that it is convenient to use

or easy to recognize (multiples of 5).
• The beginning of the first interval must be low
enough so that the first interval includes the smallest
observation.
• If the data has x decimal places, the interval limits
should also have x decimal places.

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 Data Example
• Weight in pounds of 57 school children at a day-
care center:
68 63 42 27 30 36 28 32 79 27
22 23 24 25 44 65 43 23 74 51
36 42 28 31 28 25 45 12 57 51
12 32 49 38 42 27 31 50 38 21
16 24 69 47 23 22 43 27 49 28
23 19 46 30 43 49 12

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 Data Example – Step 1

• From the data we have:

R
• Minimum = 12 W=
• Maximum = 79
k
• R = 79-12 = 67
• If we use k=5 and 15 we get:
• W= 67/5 = 13.4
• W= 67/15 = 4.5
• Since the dataset is not large, we will choose
w=10 to have fewer intervals.
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 Data Example – Step 2
• Next we have to construct the intervals.
• With w = 10
• minimum observation =12
• choose the first interval to start at 10 to include 12.
INTERVALS (in lbs): 10-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80

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28
Cumulative frequency curve

120

100

80
Attempting suicide
60
Later successful

40

20

0
15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-84 > 85
Percentage cumulative frequency curves of age for male
suicide attempters and later succeeders

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Describing data with numeric
summary values
1. Numbers, Percentages, Proportions,
Rates.
2. Measures of Central Location.

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 Numbers, Percentages, proportions, Rates

• Numbers: the numerical summaries of data

• A percentage is a proportion multiplied by 100.
(categorical data)
• Proportion :number of existing cases in some
population / population at risk at a given time.
• Rate: number of cases/population at risk per
100, or per 1000, of the population

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 Measures of location
Also called measures of location(central
tendency)
Gives one number which is representative
of all the data
They are the:
Mean
Median
Mode
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 The mean
• Widely used n statistical calculation
• Calculated as:
The sum of observations divided by the number
of observations
Example ( 5,7,3,38,7) hours, n=5
Total =60 ( sum of data points)
Mean =60/5=12

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 Mean
Advantages Disadvantages
• Simple and easy • Affected by extreme
• Most widely used values
• Can be used for further • Sometimes looks
statistical tests ridiculous e.g. average
• All values are included number of children =
• Does not need 2.7
arrangement of data

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 The median
• Does not depend on the sum and number of
observations
• Depend on organizing the data on ascending
or descending order of magnitude
• Then the value of middle observation is
located.
• It divide the observations to two equal parts
of 50%

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– If the number of observations in the dataset is odd
the median position will be (n+1)/2 of the
observations
– If the number of observations is even the median is
defined as the average of the two middle
observations
– Example: {8,5,4,12,15,7,28}
• First put observations in order: 4,5,7,8,12,15,28
• Find the (n+1)/2 which is the 4th position
observation.

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 Another Example of the Median
• First arrange the data in order from smallest to
largest.
• If the number of data points is ODD:
– 3, 5, 7, 7, 38
• The median is the value in the middle: 7
• If the number of data points is EVEN:
– 3, 5, 7, 7
• The median is the average of the two values
around the middle: (5+7)/2 = 6

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 Median
Advantages Disadvantages
• Not affected by extreme • Needs arrangement of
values data
• Used for growth curves • Difficult to calculate
and income from large amounts of
• Can be determined data
graphically • Not all values are
represented

Friday, November 13, 2020 39

 The mode

• The most frequent observation

• Easily understandable
• Not affected by extreme values
• Its exact location is not clearly
• Not used in biological and medical statistics

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It is the most common value found in the
dataset (fashionable value)
◦ Hb level of 5 pregnant women
12, 12.5, 11, 13, 12.5 Mode = 12.5
◦ Hb level of 6 pregnant women
12, 12.5, 11, 13, 12.5, 8 Mode = 12.5
More than one mode may occur (bimodal,
trimodal)
Sometimes there is no mode .

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 Mode
Advantages Disadvantages
• Not affected by extreme • Not all values are
values represented

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