What is marginal relative frequency?

What is marginal relative frequency?

• A. The ratio of a row total to a column total
• B. The sum of the joint relative frequencies in a row or column
• C. The ratio of a cell frequency to the grand total
• D. The difference between two marginal frequencies

Answer: (D)

Marginal relative frequency shows the proportion of the grand total that lies in a specific row or column of a contingency table. To obtain it, add up the joint relative frequencies for all cells in that row (or column). Each joint relative frequency is a cell count divided by the grand total, and summing them across a row yields the row’s total count divided by the grand total. The same idea applies to a column. For example, if the grand total is 100 and a row has cell counts that give joint relative frequencies of 0.25 and 0.15 in that row, the marginal relative frequency for that row is 0.25 + 0.15 = 0.40 (which equals the row total 40 divided by the grand total 100). This idea isn’t the ratio of a row total to a column total, nor the ratio of a single cell to the grand total, and it isn’t a difference between two margins.

Marginal relative frequency shows the proportion of the grand total that lies in a specific row or column of a contingency table. To obtain it, add up the joint relative frequencies for all cells in that row (or column). Each joint relative frequency is a cell count divided by the grand total, and summing them across a row yields the row’s total count divided by the grand total. The same idea applies to a column.

For example, if the grand total is 100 and a row has cell counts that give joint relative frequencies of 0.25 and 0.15 in that row, the marginal relative frequency for that row is 0.25 + 0.15 = 0.40 (which equals the row total 40 divided by the grand total 100).

This idea isn’t the ratio of a row total to a column total, nor the ratio of a single cell to the grand total, and it isn’t a difference between two margins.