We've already looked at categorical data, which is data that is sorted by groups or categories. Now we are going to look at how we can use this information to draw conclusions or decisions about a data set.
Let's see how with an example.
$50$50 people were asked to choose their favourite types of movies and their results are displayed in the bar chart below.
Researchers and businesses use data, such as surveys of people's preferences for one product over another, to help shape the decisions they make as this kind of information can be very powerful!
Tables and graphs are an excellent way to display results visually. However, we may also want to use percentages, fractions or decimals to explain how common a particular choice is. For example, if $18$18 out of $24$24 people in a Year 6 class said dogs were their favourite kind of animal, we could write this as a fraction as $\frac{18}{24}$1824, which we could simplify to $\frac{3}{4}$34. Then we could write up a fun report!
A recent survey showed that $\frac{3}{4}$34 of Year 6 students picked dogs as their favourite kind of animal. This was far more than any other type of animal...
Let's look at some more examples now.
A restaurant owner recorded how many employees arrived early, on time or late.
Complete the table.
Arrival | Tally | Frequency |
---|---|---|
Early | $\editable{}$ | |
On-Time | $\editable{}$ | |
Late | $\editable{}$ |
How many employees did the restaurant owner survey in total?
When did the majority of employees arrive?
Late.
On-time.
Early.
Complete the column graph using the results from the table above.
Students were asked to name their favourite subject at school. Their answers are displayed in the pie chart.
Which of the following subjects is more popular?
English
Maths
Which subject is most popular in the school?
Other
History
Science
Maths
English
What fraction do the students that prefer English represent?
The bar graph shows the number of each type of car fixed by the local mechanic.
Which car brand does the mechanic fix most often?
Mercedes
Toyota
Mitsubishi
Holden
BMW
Which car brands did the mechanic fix equally as often?
Mitsubishi
BMW
Toyota
Holden
Mercedes
What fraction of the total number of cars do Toyotas represent?