ABSTRACT
This chapter covers ways to find the center for various types of variables and examines the measures of variation for various types of variables. It shows how to talk about variation, among groups and individuals and suggests that how researchers used descriptive statistics to study the geography of the US Senate. The chapter also shows that how researchers used descriptive statistics to talk about changing prison population. It examines just a few descriptive statistics for a variable's scores. We can get a very good idea about where center of those scores lies, how far the scores are from this center, and what shape distribution of the scores takes. The chapter also covers several descriptive statistics that are used for three types of variables: ratio, ordinal, and nominal. It compares the variation in responses towards the revolutionary group among those who identify their own political views as extremely liberal and those who identify their own views as extremely conservative.
