IBPsychologyDPHLRevision NotesResearch MethodsData Analysis & Interpretation (HL Only)Frequency Tables

Syllabus Edition

First teaching 2025

First exams 2027

Frequency Tables (DP IB Psychology): Revision Note

Claire Neeson

Written by: Claire Neeson

Reviewed by: Raj Bonsor

Updated on

Frequency tables

  • A frequency table measures the number of times a behaviour/action/phenomenon occurs

    • E.g., the number of times litter is dropped

    • the number of times red is chosen for a T-shirt design

    • the number of goals scored by players in one season

  • To organise and make sense of frequency data, a researcher will arrange it into a frequency table:

Score: Number of goals scored in one match by school team in one season

Tally

Frequency

1

straight I

1

2

III

3

3

horizontal strike IIII space horizontal strike IIII space straight I

11

4

horizontal strike IIII space horizontal strike IIII space horizontal strike IIII space horizontal strike IIII space

20

5

horizontal strike IIII space III

8

  • The frequency table above reveals that the mode for goals scored is 4, as this happened 20 times in one season 

  • The median score is 5, as this sits in the middle of the ordered data set, i.e., a frequency of 8 

  • The mean score is calculated as follows:

    • Multiply each score by its frequency e.g. 1 x 1, 2 x 3, etc.

    • Add the total of these scores; in this case, it is 1 + 6 + 33 + 80 + 40 = 160

    • Divide this score by the total number of goals in the first column (10) to find the mean; in this case, it is 10.6

  • The range is calculated by subtracting the lowest score from the highest score; in this case, it is 5 - 1 = 4

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    Author
    Reviewer
    Claire Neeson

    Author: Claire Neeson

    Expertise: Psychology Content Creator

    Claire has been teaching for 34 years, in the UK and overseas. She has taught GCSE, A-level and IB Psychology which has been a lot of fun and extremely exhausting! Claire is now a freelance Psychology teacher and content creator, producing textbooks, revision notes and (hopefully) exciting and interactive teaching materials for use in the classroom and for exam prep. Her passion (apart from Psychology of course) is roller skating and when she is not working (or watching 'Coronation Street') she can be found busting some impressive moves on her local roller rink.

    Raj Bonsor

    Reviewer: Raj Bonsor

    Expertise: Psychology & Sociology Content Creator

    Raj joined Save My Exams in 2024 as a Senior Content Creator for Psychology & Sociology. Prior to this, she spent fifteen years in the classroom, teaching hundreds of GCSE and A Level students. She has experience as Subject Leader for Psychology and Sociology, and her favourite topics to teach are research methods (especially inferential statistics!) and attachment. She has also successfully taught a number of Level 3 subjects, including criminology, health & social care, and citizenship.