Question

what is the best way to graphically display this data? explain.
e following frequency distribution, based on the 2014 general social survey (gss), examin
titudes about frequency of prayer. use this distribution to answer the questions that follow
how often does r pray
...
cumulative
percent
frequency percent valid percent
valid several times a day 409 27.3 27.4 27.4
once a day 447 29.8 29.9 57.3
several times a week 172 11.5 11.5 68.8
once a week 85 5.7 5.7 74.5
lt once a week 157 10.5 10.5 85.0
never 224 14.9 15.0 100.0
total 1494 99.6 100.0
missing dk 2 .1
na 4 .3
total 6 .4
total 1500 100.0

• what two(2) observations do you glean from this frequency distribution examining

often one prays?

• what is the level of measurement for this variable?
• what is the best way to graphically display this data? explain.

he following frequency distribution, based on the 2014 general social survey (gss), exam

Explanation:

For the question "What two(2) observations do you glean from this frequency distribution examining how often one prays?":

1. The most common prayer frequency among the valid responses is "ONCE A DAY" with a valid percent of 29.9%, and the least common among the main prayer - related categories (excluding missing values) is "ONCE A WEEK" with a valid percent of 5.7%.
2. The cumulative percent reaches 100.0% at the "NEVER" category, indicating that all valid responses are accounted for in the six prayer - frequency categories (from "SEVERAL TIMES A DAY" to "NEVER"). Also, the total number of respondents is 1500, with 6 missing values (2 "DK" and 4 "NA"), so the valid number of respondents is 1494.

The variable "how often one prays" has categories ("SEVERAL TIMES A DAY", "ONCE A DAY", "SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK", "ONCE A WEEK", "LT ONCE A WEEK", "NEVER") that have a natural order (we can rank them from most frequent to least frequent or vice versa). However, the differences between the categories are not necessarily equal (e.g., the difference between "SEVERAL TIMES A DAY" and "ONCE A DAY" in terms of the actual time between prayers is not the same as the difference between "ONCE A WEEK" and "LT ONCE A WEEK"). This fits the definition of an ordinal level of measurement, where data is categorized into ordered groups.

A bar graph is a good choice. Since the variable is ordinal (with distinct categories that have an order), a bar graph can clearly show the frequency (or percentage) of each category. In a bar graph, each bar represents a category ("SEVERAL TIMES A DAY", "ONCE A DAY", etc.), and the height of the bar represents the frequency or percentage of respondents in that category. This allows for easy comparison between the different prayer - frequency categories. Another option could be a Pareto chart, which is a type of bar graph with the bars ordered from highest to lowest frequency, along with a cumulative - frequency line. This is also suitable as it shows both the individual frequencies and the cumulative proportion, which is relevant here given the cumulative percent data.

Answer:

1. The most common prayer frequency (among valid responses) is "ONCE A DAY" (29.9% valid percent), and the least common main prayer - frequency category is "ONCE A WEEK" (5.7% valid percent).
2. The cumulative percent reaches 100.0% at "NEVER", and there are 6 missing values (2 "DK", 4 "NA") out of 1500 total respondents.

For the question "What is the level of measurement for this variable?":