TUTORIAL 4: DATA PRESENTATION USING COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Objective:
a) Use computer software to generate and present several forms of data
presentation.
i. Frequency table
ii. Histogram and Frequency Polygon
iii. Line graph
iv. Pie chart
v. Bar chart and etc
b) Edit the graphs using the chart editor function
c) Use some useful functions provided by SPSS e.g. cross-tabulation.
d) Use SPSS to generate measures of of central tendency - mean,median,and mode
e) Use SPSS to generate measures of dispersion- standard deviation and variance.
f) Solve problem involving data presentation using computer software.

INTRODUCTION

Data collected are usually entered into a large data worksheet or a huge table. To
increase ease of understanding the data , a smaller amount of numeric data in the
worksheet is often summarized into tables with fewer variables or organized into
graphs. These summaries include the frequency table, the histogram the frequency
polygon,the line graph,the pie chart bar chart which are collectively referred to as
data presentations. In this section ,will learn to generate several forms of data
presentation. Learn to gather information from data presentation to aid in problem
solving.

FREQUENCY TABLE
A frequency table is a table that displays how often item ,events or numbers occur.
To generate a frequency a frequency table using SPSS , the procedures are as
follows.

1. “Analyze” from the menu bar was selected .A drop -down menu will appear that
lists all the various graph function performed by SPSS.
2. From the drop - down Menu ,select “descriptive statistics” .This will open
another drop-down menu.
3. From this menu select “frequencies” which will open another window labelled
“Frequencies”
4. From the list of variables on the left ,select the variables-of-interests.More than
one variable can be analyzed at the same time.
5. Move these variables to the box labelled “Variables” by clicking the arrow key.
6. Click on statistics ( for scale data) to generate descriptive statistics such as mean,
standard deviation , variance ,minimum ,maximum ,and etc.Can click on charts
to generate bar charts,pie charts or histogram with or without normal curve and
click on format to define the orderof the values.
 Statistics

average
temperatur ice cream
e in C in RM000

N Valid 11 11

Missin
0 0
g
Mean 26.000 398.55
Median 26.000 412.00
a
Mode 21.0 15a
Std.
3.3166 181.653
Deviation
Variance 11.000 32997.673

Freque Percen Valid Cumulativ

Valid ncy t Percent e Percent

15 1 9.1 9.1 9.1

185 1 9.1 9.1 18.2

325 1 9.1 9.1 27.3

332 1 9.1 9.1 36.4

406 1 9.1 9.1 45.5

412 1 9.1 9.1 54.5

421 1 9.1 9.1 63.6

522 1 9.1 9.1 72.7

544 1 9.1 9.1 81.8

608 1 9.1 9.1 90.9

614 1 9.1 9.1 100.0

Tota
11 100.0 100.0
l
 Statistics

average
temperature ice cream in
in C RM000

N Valid 11 11

Missing 0 0
Mean 26.000 398.55
Median 26.000 412.00
a
Mode 21.0 15a
Std. Deviation 3.3166 181.653
Variance 11.000 32997.673

temperature

Cumulati
Freque Perce Valid ve
ncy nt Percent Percent

Vali 21 1 9.1 9.1 9.1

d 22 1 9.1 9.1 18.2

23 1 9.1 9.1 27.3

24 1 9.1 9.1 36.4

25 1 9.1 9.1 45.5

26 1 9.1 9.1 54.5

27 1 9.1 9.1 63.6

28 1 9.1 9.1 72.7

29 1 9.1 9.1 81.8

30 1 9.1 9.1 90.9

31 1 9.1 9.1 100.0

Tot
11 100.0 100.0
al
 temperature

Frequen Percen Valid Cumulativ

cy t Percent e Percent

Vali 21 1 9.1 9.1 9.1

d 22 1 9.1 9.1 18.2

23 1 9.1 9.1 27.3

24 1 9.1 9.1 36.4

25 1 9.1 9.1 45.5

26 1 9.1 9.1 54.5

27 1 9.1 9.1 63.6

28 1 9.1 9.1 72.7

29 1 9.1 9.1 81.8

30 1 9.1 9.1 90.9

31 1 9.1 9.1 100.0

Tota
11 100.0 100.0
l

ice cream in RM000

Frequenc Valid Cumulative

y Percent Percent Percent

Valid 15 1 9.1 9.1 9.1

185 1 9.1 9.1 18.2

325 1 9.1 9.1 27.3

332 1 9.1 9.1 36.4

406 1 9.1 9.1 45.5

412 1 9.1 9.1 54.5

421 1 9.1 9.1 63.6

522 1 9.1 9.1 72.7

544 1 9.1 9.1 81.8

608 1 9.1 9.1 90.9

614 1 9.1 9.1 100.0

Total 11 100.0 100.0

DISCUSSION:

HISTOGRAM
A histogram is a graphical display of numerical data in the form of uprights bars,with
the area of each bar representing frequency.
1) To generate a histogram , click on “graphs” and from the Drop- down menu ,
select “Histogram” which will open a window labelled “Histogram”.
2) Select the variable -of- interest from the left -side of the window and move the
variables/ into the window and move the labelled “variable” by clicking the arrow
key.
3) To examine how the distribution would appear if it was normally distributed , click
on the box labelled “Display Normal Curve”.
4) If choose may add a tittle to graph by clicking the button labelled “Tittle”
5) Once have defined the graph ,click “OK”.SPSS will generate the histogram.

The histogram is similar to the bar graph except that the bars are touching this is
done to illustrate the continuous nature of the scale (rather than the separate
categories of the bar Graph).
FREQUENCY POLYGON
Frequency polygon are like histograms except they show frequencies with line
plotted at the midpoints of the bars.

LINE GRAPH
A line graph is a graph in which data points are joined by straights lines, typically
used to represent time series data, with the horizontal axis representing time.
1) To generate a line graph ,click on “Graphs” and from the Drop-down menu,select
“Line” and the line graph dialog box will appear.
2) “Simple” and “Summaries for groups of cases” in the “Data in Chart Are” box.Once
have done this “define”was clicked. The define simple line dialog box appears.
3) In the left hand pane,click on the variable that want plotted on the category
(X)axis , and move it into the category Axis text box by clicking on the arrow button.
Select from the option “Line Represents” to define the values plotted on the y axis as
number of cases (N of cases),percentage of cases (% of cases) and etc.Then click
“OK”.SPSS will generate the line graph.

PIE CHART
A pie chart is a diagram in the shape of a circle (or pie) ,divided into sectors (slices or
segments) that represent specific quantities of data in percentages,adding up to
100%.

1) To generate a pie chart , click on “Graphs” and from the Drop-down menu, select
“Pie”.SPSS prompts about the type of chart or graph that want to produce.
2) “Summaries for groups of cases” in the “data in chart Are “box.once have done
this,click “define”.
3) This will open a new window.choose to select “Slices Represent”(N of cases, % of
cases etc).and insert the variable in “Define Slices by”.
Note: if click on the “titles…” button, can add or edit tittle or footnotes.Can do it here
or later using the Chart Editor Function(Section 4.2).

BAR GRAPH
A bar graph is a chart with rectangular bars which can be plotted vertically or
horizontally.The length of the bars is proportional to the values that represent. Bar
graphs are usually used to display nominal or categorical data.

1) To generate a Bar graph or chart , click on “Graphs” and from the drop-down
menu, select “Bar”.This will open a window labelled “Bar Charts” SPSS prompts
about the type of bar chart that want to produce.
2) Select ‘Simple” and “Summaries for groups of cases” in the “Data in Chart Are”
box.Once have done this ,click “Define”.This will open a new window “Define Simple
Bar:Summaries for groups of Cases”.
3) Can choose to select “Bars Represent” and insert the variable in “Category Axis”
similar to the procedures for the pie chart. Click the button labelled “OK”.SPSS will
generate Bar Chart in the Output window.
CHART EDITOR
The graph or chart produced in SPSS output viewer can be edited to include the
chart tittle, change the appearance (colour,type,etc), change the scale for the x and y
axes, and etc by using the chart editor
1) To access the chart editor in SPSS , double click the chart or graph in SPSS output
viewer. A new window “chart editor” will appear. The following shows an example of
the chart editor obtained when the bar graph on gender of participant was double
clicked.
2) The second graph on the lower right shows that the tittle for the graph had been
inserted (option→Tittle) and the colours of the bar changed (Properties or bar
icon).Can also edit the font type of the text (properties), scale of the axes (X or Y)
and size of graph by clicking on the menu icons on the Chart Editor.Explore the
different function in the Chart Editor.

CROSS-TABULATION
How can make a table that displays the responses to two questions together? For
example ,for the survey question, “is life exciting or dull?” with three responses,
“exciting”, “pretty routine “ and “dull” , the researcher may want to know how many
if the respondents for each of the responses were men and how many were
women.Two variables are involved ,i.e .outlook of life and gender.

What is needed is a cross-tabulation . Across-classification table shows a cell for

every combination of categories of the two variables.Inside the cell is a number
showing how many people gave that combination of responses.

1) Select “Analyze “f from the Menu Bar , then ‘Descriptive Statistics” and then
“crosstabs”.
2) The variables are choosed.
3) Select (by highlighting) the variable to be displayed in the “rows” of the table,
move it over by clicking on the upper arrow button. Interpretation of the table is
easier if display the dependent variable in the rows.
4) Select (by highlighting) the variable to be displayed in the “columns” of the table,
move it over by clicking on the second arrow button. Interpretation of the table is
easier if display the independent variable in the columns.
5) Need to click on the “cells”button located at the lower margin of the window to
indicate what kind of information would like to have in each cells of the table.SPSS
automatically provides a cell “count” I.e.the number of cases actually occurring
(observed) in each cell.May want to convert raw numbers into percentages.
6) Now click on “continue” to get back to the Crosstabs dialog box. Once back there ,
click OK.SPSS will now open the Output Viewer window which will show table .