2022 Introduction to Statistics in Research Mitchell 2nd ed

I N T R O T O R E S E A R C H : D A T A V I S U A L I Z A T I O N & C O M M O N S T A T T E S T S

Use Frequencies instead of count

The best way to demonstrate this is to show you! Comparative bar charts provide a visual comparison of univariate, categorical data for two or more groups. There are two main points:

1) Use color-coded columns to indicate which bars match each group.

2) Use relative frequencies on the vertical axis instead of the frequency (count). The use of relative frequency helps make a more meaningful comparison even if the same sizes are not the same.

Example: Each year the Princeton Review conducts a survey. One of the questions is asked of parents and students. It is, "Ideally, how far from home would you like the college you (your child) attend(s) to be? As you might expect, parents and students do not agree. Let's look at the frequency table along with relative frequency table. Remember the relative frequency table should be used. (Quiz)

Table 51: College distance from home survey

Now, look at the two charts.

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