I selected two articles from different newspapers - one from a broadsheet (The Daily Telegraph) and another from a tabloid (The Sun). Both articles are on the same topic. I am trying to find out which article, if either, requires a higher reading age

22

4

IIII IIII IIII IIII

9

5

IIII IIII IIII

5

6

IIII IIII

9

7

IIII I

6

8

III

3

9

I

0

0

1

0

2

III

3

Cumulative Frequency

I am going to construct a cumulative frequency graph for both articles and box plots that will correspond with them. First, I will work out the cumulative frequency in these tables.

Frequency and Cumulative Frequency Table: Broadsheet

No. of Letters Per Word

Frequency

%

Cumulative frequency

%

-3

33

33.0

33

33.0

4-6

37

37.0

70

70.0

7-9

25

25.0

95

95.0

0-12

5

5.0

00

00.0

Total

00

Calculation of Mean: Broadsheet

No. of Letters Per Word

Mid-point X

Frequency f

fX

-3

2

33

66

4-6

5

37

85

7-9

8

25

200

0-12

1

5

55

Total

00

506

Mean = Sum fX/f = 506/100 = 5.1

Frequency and Cumulative Frequency Table: Tabloid

No. of Letters Per Word

Frequency

%

Cumulative Frequency

%

-3

44

44.0

44

44.0

4-6

43

43.0

87

87.0

7-9

0

0.0

97

97.0

0-12

3

3.0

00

00.0

Total

00

Calculation of Mean: Tabloid

No. of Letters Per Word

Mid-point X

Frequency f

fX

-3

2

44

88

4-6

5

43

215

7-9

8

0

80

0-12

1

3

33

Total

00

416

Mean = Sum fX/f = 416/100 = 4.2

Cumulative Frequency Graph

See cumulative frequency graphs ( Word Length: Tabloid and Broadsheet).

Comparison of Results

In the broadsheet article, 70% of the words contained 6 or fewer letters compared with 87% for the tabloid. This means that 30% of the broadsheet article contained 7 or more letters compared with only 13% in the tabloid. The means for word length were 5.1 for the broadsheet and 4.2 for the tabloid.

Conclusion

My results were as predicted and showed that the broadsheet tended to use longer words. I could tell this from the means and also from the comparative bar chart and cumulative frequency graph.

Hypothesis 2 - Sentence Length

Task

I am now going to work out which article has longer sentences.

Plan and hypothesis

I will record the number of words in each of the first 35 sentences. I predict that the broadsheet will tend to have longer sentences again because it is a more detailed and informative paper aimed at better educated people thus having longer and more complex sentences. To test my prediction I will first record my results in a tally chart then display them in both a cumulative frequency diagram and a comparative bar chart. I will work out the means of the grouped data and then test my hypothesis.

Tally Charts

Tally Chart: Broadsheet

Words Per sentence

Tally

Total

0 < n ? 5

IIII

4

5 < n ? 10

IIII I

6

0 < n ? 15

IIII

4

5 < n ? 20

IIII

4

20 < n ? 25

IIII

5

25 < n ? 30

II

2

30 < n ? 35

IIII

4

35 < n ? 40

III

3

40 < n ? 45

II

2

45 < n ? 50

I

Tally Chart: Tabloid

Words per sentence

Tally

Total

0 < n ? 5

IIII

5

5 < n ? 10

IIII III

8

0 < n ? 15

IIII I

6

5 < n ? 20

IIII II

7

20 < n ? 25

III

3

25 < n ? 30

II

2

30 < n ? 35

II

2

35 < n ? 40

I

40 < n ?45

I

0 < n ? 5

0

Cumulative Frequency

I am going to construct a cumulative frequency graph for both articles and box plots that will correspond with them. First, I will work out the cumulative frequency in these tables.

Frequency and Cumulative Frequency: Broadsheet

No of Words Per Sentence

Frequency

%

Cumulative Frequency

%

0 < n ? 5

4

1.4

4

1.4

5 < n ? 10

6

7.1

0

28.6

0 < n ? 15

4

1.4

4

40.0

5 < n ? 20

4

1.4

8

51.4

20 < n ? 25

5

4.3

23

65.7

25 < n ? 30

2

5.7

25

71.4

30 < n ? 35

4

1.4

29

82.9

35 < n ? 40

3

8.6

32

91.4

40 < n ? 45

2

5.7

34

97.1

45 < n ? 50

2.9

35

00.0

Total

35

Calculation of Mean: broadsheet

No of Words Per Sentence

Mid-point X

Frequency X

fX

0 < n ? 5

3

4

2

5 < n ? 10

8

6

48

0 < n ? 15

3

4

52

5 < n ? 20

8

4

72

20 < n ? 25

23

5

15

25 < n ? 30

28

2

56

30 < n ? 35

33

4

32

35 < n ? 40

38

3

14

40 < n ? 45

43

2

86

45 < n ? 50

48

48

Total

35

735

Mean = Sum fX/f = 735/35 = 21.0

Frequency and Cumulative Frequency Table: Tabloid

No. of Words Per Sentence

Frequency

%

Cumulative Frequency

%

0 < n ? 5

5

4.3

5

4.3

5 < n ? 10

8

22.9

3

37.1

0 < n ? 15

6

7.1

9

54.3

5 < n ? 20

7

20.0

26

74.3

20 < n ? 25

3

8.6

29

82.9

25 < n ? 30

2

5.7

31

88.6

30 < n ? 35

2

5.7

33

94.3

35 < n ? 40

2.9

34

97.1

40 < n ?45

2.9

35

00.0

45 < n ? 50

0

0.0

35

00.0

Total

35

Calculation of Mean: tabloid

No. of Words Per Sentence

Mid-point X

Frequency f

fX

0 < n ? 5

3

5

5

5 < n ? 10

8

8

64

0 < n ? 15

3

6

78

5 < n ? 20

8

7

26

20 < n ? 25

23

3

69

25 < n ? 30

28

2

56

30 < n ? 35

33

2

66

35 < n ? 40

38

38

40 < n ?45

43

43

45 < n ? 50

48

0

0

Total

35

555

Mean = Sum fX/f = 555/35 = 15.9

Cumulative frequency graphs

See cumulative frequency graphs (Sentence Length: Broadsheet and Tabloid).

Comparison of Results

In the broadsheet article, 65.7% of the sentences contained 25 or fewer words compared with 82.9% for the tabloid. This means that 34.3% of the broadsheet article contained sentences with more than 25 words compared with only 17.1% in the tabloid. The means for sentence length were 21.0 for the broadsheet and 15.9 for the tabloid.

Conclusion

My results were as predicted and showed that the broadsheet tended to use longer words. I could tell this from the means and also from the comparative bar chart and cumulative frequency graph.

Hypothesis 3 - Reading Age

Task

I am going to work out which article has a higher reading age using FOG's method.

Plan and Hypothesis

I will count the first 10 sentences in each article, count how many 3 or more syllable words there are, multiply thist by three, find the square root and round it to the nearest whole number. I predict that the broadsheet paper will have a higher reading age than the tabloid as it is a more detailed paper aimed at the upper class that tend to be better educated.

Broadsheet = reading age of 16

Tabloid = reading age of 16

Conclusion

I was surprised at this result as I had already found out that the broadsheet tended to use longer words and sentences so I expected it to have a higher reading age.

Conclusion

I compared two articles on the same subject from a broadsheet newspaper and a tabloid to find out which one required a higher reading age. I did this by working out which one used longer words and longer sentences. I then, used these measures to calculate the reading age using FOG's Reading Age Test.

The broadsheet had more long words and more long sentences. However, the FOG scores were similar.

I think overall the broadsheet has a higher reading age because although it was equal to the tabloid in FOG's test it has longer words and sentences so is therefore harder to read.

Franklin Barr Maths Coursework June 2004