In this topic, we saw that a sample including many observations can be hard to analyze. We therefore learned how to analyze data from the sample in a frequency table, and how to create a visual representation of them. We reviewed several types of variables:

Numeric variables (number of children, age, etc.) and non-numeric variables (gender, family status, and job status). With the numeric variables, the order of the variables is always important. With non-numeric variables, the order can be either significant (job status) or insignificant (gender, marital status, etc.).

Since the question of which values that are assigned to variables is of interest to us, we presented the distribution in both a frequency table and as a diagram.

Frequency tables illustrating all of these variables are similar in form, but their graphic representations differ.

The following table illustrates the visual representation of each variable:

 

Type of Variable

Sections Included in the

example in the Chapter

Method of Visual

Representation

Non-numerical variable for which the order is unimportant

Gender, family status

Pie diagram

Non-numerical variable for which the order is important

Job status

Bar diagram

Discrete numerical variable

Number of children

Stick diagram

Continuous numerical variable

Age

Histogram