2.2 Types of frequency distribution

There are four types of frequency distribution table:

• ungrouped frequency distribution
• grouped frequency distribution
• relative frequency distribution
• cumulative frequency distribution.

Before describing each type of frequency distribution table, you need to know the difference between ungrouped data and grouped data.

In simple terms, ungrouped data is raw data that has not been categorised. For example, a manager in a firm knows that 100 employees work in their firm; this is raw data because it does not tell you how many employees work in each department (e.g. production and sales). However, if you have raw data that is categorised, it is defined as grouped data. For example, if this manager knows that 50 employees work in production and 50 employees work in sales, it means that the data is organised in such a way that it provides a clear indication of how many employees work in each department.