Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences by Frederick J. Gravetter, Larry B. Wallnau ISBN 10: 1305504917 ISBN 13: 9781305504912

SECTION 2.5 | Stem and Leaf Displays 57
TABLE 2.3
A set of N = 24 scores
presented as raw data and
organized in a stem and
leaf display.
Data
Stem and Leaf Display
83 82 63 3 23
62 93 78 4 26
71 68 33 5 6279
76 52 97 6 283
85 42 46 7 1643846
32 57 59 8 3521
56 73 74 9 37
74 81 76
all scores in the 30s—that is, all scores in the interval 30–39. The number of leaves in the
display shows the frequency associated with each stem. It also should be clear that the
stem and leaf display has one important advantage over a traditional grouped frequency
distribution. Specifically, the stem and leaf display allows you to identify every individual
score in the data. In the display shown in Table 2.3, for example, you know that there were
three scores in the 60s and that the specific values were 62, 68, and 63. A frequency distribution
would tell you only the frequency, not the specific values. This advantage can be
very valuable, especially if you need to do any calculations with the original scores. For
example, if you need to add all the scores, you can recover the actual values from the stem
and leaf display and compute the total. With a grouped frequency distribution, however, the
individual scores are not available.
LEARNING CHECK
1. For the scores shown in the following stem and leaf display, what is the lowest score
in the distribution? 9 374
a. 7 8 945
b. 15 7 7042
c. 50 6 68
d. 51 5 14
2. For the scores shown in the following stem and leaf display, how many people had
scores in the 70s? 9 374
a. 1 8 945
b. 2 7 7042
c. 3 6 68
d. 4 5 14
ANSWERS
1. D, 2. D