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1120 Introduction

The document discusses understanding and interpreting data through statistical analysis and graphical representations. It covers characterizing distributions, organizing and summarizing data, and examining relationships between variables. Visual tools like histograms, box plots, and scatter plots are important for extracting meaning from data.

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kristi spahi
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25 views

1120 Introduction

The document discusses understanding and interpreting data through statistical analysis and graphical representations. It covers characterizing distributions, organizing and summarizing data, and examining relationships between variables. Visual tools like histograms, box plots, and scatter plots are important for extracting meaning from data.

Uploaded by

kristi spahi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Accounting

Statistics & Excel


Instruction Help & How To
Understanding and Interpreting Data: From Tables to
Graphical Representations
This data is often
organized into
At the heart of extensive tables,
statistics is data. and the key
Various entities, challenge lies in
like governments, making sense of
businesses, this sea of
universities, and numbers.
sports enthusiasts,
collect a wealth of
data on a range of
subjects.
The Role of Visual
Representation
The first rule of statistics: draw a picture. Why?
Visual representations, like graphs, can reveal
patterns, relationships, and other important
features within data.

For example, they can indicate the distribution of


a variable, highlight unexpected outliers, or
describe an association between two variables.

Graphical representations can also serve as an


effective communication tool to share the stories
embedded within data.
Characterizing Distributions - A crucial
aspect of understanding data involves
characterizing its distribution.
Typically, we describe a data
distribution by:

• Identifying the general


1. shape (e.g., bell-
shaped, bimodal)

• Finding the center of


2.
the data

• Measuring how spread


out or concentrated
3.
the data is from the
center.
Organizing and Summarizing Data -
Statistics aim to effectively organize,
describe, and summarize data. This
process involves:

Ordering data usefully

Grouping data efficiently

Summarizing data with single numbers


like the mean or median

Identifying quartiles

Creating graphical representations like


histograms and box plots.
A histogram, for example, is created by dividing the data into disjoint
groups and counting the frequency of data items within each group.
This gives us a sense of the shape of the data, revealing whether it's
skewed, bimodal, or symmetrical, among other characteristics.
Examining Relationships
A fundamental part of
extracting meaning from data
is examining the relationships
between two or more
variables.

For instance, one might look at


the correlation between a
student's SAT score and their
GPA in college.

Such relationships can be


visualized using scatter plots,
with each dot representing an
individual's specific
combination of variables.
In Conclusion
The ultimate goal is to organize, describe, and
summarize data sets. To understand data, we often
look at its distribution, shape, center, and spread.

Graphical tools like histograms and box plots,


along with statistical measures like mean, median,
and quartiles, can help summarize data effectively.

However, they do not preserve all the information,


and understanding data often involves analyzing
various shapes and visualizing associated data via
scatter plots or other graphical representations.

All of these concepts are quantified and explored


in depth in statistical study.

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