Summary of Applications of Bar Graphs

Monitoring Your Readiness

To effectively plan and use your time wisely, it helps to think about what you know and do not know. For each of the following, rate how confident you are that you can successfully do that skill. Use the following descriptions to rate yourself:

5—I am extremely confident I can do this task.

4—I am somewhat confident I can do this task.

3—I am not sure how confident I am.

2—I am not very confident I can do this task.

1—I am definitely not confident I can do this task.

Skills Needed for Applications of Bar Graphs: Forming Connections

Skill or Concept: I can . . . Questions to check your understanding Rating from 1 to 5
Read and interpret a basic pie chart. 1st interactive example
Understand the differences between side-by-side and stacked bar charts. 2-7
Make comparisons of different groups using side-by-side and stacked bar charts. 2-7

Now use the ratings to get ready for your next in-class activity. If your rating is a 3 or below, you should get help with the material before moving forward. Remember, your instructor is going to assume that you are confident with the material and will not take class time to answer questions about it.

Ways to get help:

  • See your instructor before class for help.
  • Ask your instructor for on-campus resources.
  • Set up a study group with classmates so you can help each other.
  • Work with a tutor.

Essential Concepts

  • Pie charts are useful for showing percentages (parts of a whole) at some particular instance in time.
  • Contingency tables (two-way tables) can be used to create stacked and side-by-side bar charts. This is beneficial as a contingency table does not present a strong visual comparison between groups.
  • Technology is most helpful in studying and comparing the distributions of categorical variables for different populations or groups.
  • Statistical questions about different populations or groups are answered by using stacked and side-by-side bar charts to compare data distributions.

Study Tips: Evidence-based strategies for learning

  • Practice reading a contingency table by explaining out loud (to yourself or to a friend) how to answer the questions given in the text and assignments. (Verbalizing)
  • Self-test your understanding of how and why to use side-by-side and stacked bar graphs by writing a short summary of the underlying features of these displays and the circumstances when one or the other might be more useful. Compare your summary afterward to the answers for Questions 5 and 6 in the Forming Connections assignment to see if you have the right idea. (Paraphrasing)
  • Use the data analysis tool from memory to create the stacked and side-by-side bar charts from Forming Connections. Ask yourself what part of using the tool feels natural and what part is still confusing. (Retrieval practice)

Foundational Knowledge

Glossary

contingency table (two-way table)
a table that displays the results of two categorical variables simultaneously.
group of interest
the group from which data is collected. This can sometimes be referred to as the sample.
population
the entire collection of individuals or objects that you want to learn about.
side-by-side bar chart
a chart in which two different categorical variables are compared in bars that are placed beside one another.
stacked bar chart
a chart in which two different categorical variables are compared in bars that are stacked on top of one another.
variable of interest
a measurable variable that changes in an experimental observation.

My Skills Checklist:

  • I can use tools in studying and comparing the distributions of categorical variables for different populations or groups.
  • I can use technology to create stacked and side-by-side bar charts from two-way tables.
  • I can use technology to create stacked and side-by-side bar charts from data sets.
  • I can use stacked and side-by-side bar charts to compare and answer statistical questions about different populations or groups.

Check mark list on clipboard

Topic Complete – now test your understanding in the Self-Check.

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I removed the following information, which only surfaces in the coreq page:

Algebra & Arithmetic Refresher

Key Equations

  • Relative change

  C =[latex]\dfrac{\lvert x_{2} - x_{1} \rvert}{x_{1}}[/latex], where C is the relative change, x1 is the initial value, and x2 is the final value.

absolute difference
indicates the change occurred in a number of percentage points.
relative difference
indicates the amount of something that has changed by some percent relative to its original amount, expressed with the % symbol.