Chapter 9 Frequencies

9.1 Intro

Frequency tables are normally used to inspect the distribution of categorical (dichotomous, nominal or ordinal) variables.

9.1.1 Example dataset

This example uses the Rosetta Stats example dataset “pp15” (see Chapter 1 for information about the datasets and Chapter 3 for an explanation of how to load datasets).

9.1.2 Variable(s)

From this dataset, this example uses variable currentEducation_cat.

9.2 Input: jamovi

Figure 9.1: A screenshot placeholder

9.3 Input: R

There are many packages that can be used to create a frequency table. We have only presented two examples. Other packages include (but are not limited to):

• summarytools

• Deducer

• janitor

• questionr

• sjmisc

  • If you read an SPSS dataset into R, consider using the “frq” command from the “sjmisc” package. It presents both values and value labels (similar to SPSS output).

Note: To use the following commands, it is necessary to install and load the packages first (see section 2.2.2). The example dataset is stored under the name dat (see section 3).

9.3.1 rosetta package

Use the following command (this requires the rosetta package to be installed, see section 2.2.2, and the example dataset to be stored under name dat, see section 3):

rosetta::freq(dat$currentEducation_cat);

To also order a barchart, use:

rosetta::freq(dat$currentEducation_cat, plot=TRUE);

To order frequencies for multiple variables simultaneously, use:

rosetta::frequencies(dat$currentEducation_cat,
                     dat$prevEducation_cat);

9.3.2 descr and kableExtra packages

The descr package is used to run the “descriptive statistics” for the variable (in this case, a frequency table). By default, the freq command in the descr package will also create a basic bar graph. The kableExtra package can be combined with many packages to create aesthetically pleasing tables.

kableExtra::kable_styling(
  knitr::kable(as.data.frame(descr::freq(dat$currentEducation_cat)),
               booktabs=T, digits=2));

In words:

1. From the descr package, use the frequencies command for the currentEducation variable from the dataset: (descr::freq(dat$currentEducation_cat).
2. To make the aesthetically pleasing output, we are going to create a kable from the kableExtra package. Kables require dataframes, so we need to turn this frequency output into a dataframe: as.data.frame().
3. Now, let’s call the kable function from the knitr package: knitr::kable().
4. And add some stylistic elements, such as (what does booktabs=T actually do?) booktabs=T and changing the number of decimal places to 2 digits digits=2.
5. Lastly, let’s add kablestyling to make the kable aesthetically pleasing: kableExtra::kable_styling().

9.4 Input: SPSS GUI

First activate the dat dataset (see 2.3.1).

Figure 9.2: A screenshot placeholder

9.5 Input: SPSS Syntax

Use the following command (this requires the dat dataset to be the active dataset, see 2.3.1):

FREQ VARIABLES=currentEducation_cat.

To also order a barchart, use:

FREQ VARIABLES=currentEducation_cat
  /BARCHART FREQ.

To order frequencies for multiple variables simultaneously, use:

FREQ VARIABLES=currentEducation_cat prevEducation_cat.

9.6 Output: jamovi

Figure 9.3: A screenshot placeholder

9.7 Output: R

9.7.1 rosetta package

##                    Frequencies Perc.Total Perc.Valid Cumulative
## Applied                    108       13.0       13.0       13.0
## Declined to answer           7        0.8        0.8       13.9
## Not studying               166       20.0       20.0       33.9
## Practical                   28        3.4        3.4       37.3
## Theoretical                520       62.7       62.7      100.0
## Total valid                829      100.0      100.0

9.7.2 descr and kableExtra packages

9.8 Output: SPSS

Figure 9.4: A screenshot placeholder

9.9 Read more

If you would like more background on this topic, you can read more in these sources:

• Discovering Statistics with SPSS (closed access):
• Learning Statistics with R (Navarro 2018): section XXXXXXXXXX, page XXXXXXXXXX (or follow this link for the Bookdown version)

References

Navarro, Danielle. 2018. Learning Statistics with R. 0.6 ed. New South Wales, Australia. https://learningstatisticswithr.com/.