ABSTRACT

Descriptives is another frequently used SPSS procedure. Descriptive statistics are designed to give you information about the distributions of your variables. Within this broad category are measures of central tendency (Mean, Median, Mode), measures of variability around the mean (Std deviation and Variance), measures of deviation from normality (Skewness and Kurtosis), information concerning the spread of the distribution (Maximum, Minimum, and Range), and information about the stability or sampling error of certain measures, including standard error (S.E.) of the mean (S.E. mean), S.E. of the kurtosis, and S.E. of the skewness (included by default when skewness and kurtosis are requested). Using the Descriptives command, it is possible to access all of these statistics or any subset of them. In this introductory section of the chapter, we begin with a brief description of statistical significance (included in all forms of data analysis) and the normal distribution (because most statistical procedures require normally distributed data). Then each of the statistics identified above is briefly described and illustrated.