Presentation of statistics using a frequency Research Paper

Presentation of statistics using a frequency - Research Paper Example It would be prudent to depict the same by means of Table 2.1 as shown below: Table 2.1: Use of frequency distribution in reporting data # Purpose Frequency distributions used 1 Duration of unemployment 27 weeks 2 Employment status by age 16-19 years, 16-17 years, 18-19 years, > 20 years, 20-24 years, >25 years, 25-54 years, 24-34 years, 35-44 years, 45-54 years, >55 years, 16 years and over, 20 years and over, 16-64 years,>65 years (many mutually inclusive ranges, used differently at different places) 3 Employment status by education level Less than high school, High school but no college, Some college or associate degree, Bachelor’s degree & higher (Qualitative ranges) 4 †¦. 3. Conclusions drawn The major conclusion drawn from this study was that the number of unemployed persons in August was 14 million, almost the same as previous month. Also the unemployment rate stood at 9.1%. Frequency distributions had a role to play in other conclusions. It was concluded that the n umber of long term unemployed (>27 weeks duration) was 42.9% of the total unemployed. The unemployment rates for adult men (18 and over), adult women (18 and over) and teenagers (16-19) showed little monthly changes. Also as expected the unemployment rate was inversely proportional to the level of education of a person. 4. Scales of measurement Table 4.1 gives a snapshot of the important variables and the scales of measurement used for them. Table 4.1: Scales of Measurement of Variables # Variable Scale of Measurement 1 Population Ratio 2 Number of Employed / Unemployed Ratio 3 Unemployment rate Ratio 4 Age Interval 5 Education Interval 6 Duration of unemployment Interval 7 Type of industry Nominal 8 Race of population Nominal 9 Veteran status Nominal 10 Class of workers Nominal 11 Occupation Nominal 12 †¦. 5. Effectiveness of the presentation The presentation of employment data gives a comprehensive view of the unemployment status in U.S.. The data has been segregated form all practical dimensions and categories. The use of frequency distributions for education and duration of employment seems appropriate. However, for age, many frequency distributions have been used at multiple places. Many of these frequency ranges are mutually inclusive. This leads to a lot of confusion for the viewers of the report. The ranges for age need to be standardized in order to present a clear picture of employment status by age. In addition to this, there is another scope for improvement in the report. It is in terms of representing numbers through bar graphs and pie charts. This would help the viewer in getting a quick snapshot of the numbers and percentages rather than current process where various tables need to be scanned through to come to a conclusion. 6. References The Employment Situation - August 2011. (2011). News Release. Bureau of labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 14 September, 2011 from