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Descriptive Statistics & Graphical Displays of Univariate Data

Last updated:
14 Mar 2005

Assumed knowledge

• Francis Chapter 2 "Exploring the Distribution of a Single Variable"

Descriptive & Graphical Exercise Using SPSS

• Open up qfsall.sav
• For each variable, create:
  • the appropriate descriptive statistics for central tendency and spread, e.g.,
    (you will need to decide based on the level of measurement)
    • summarise open-ended responses
    • frequency / mode
    • median
    • mean, SD, skewness, kurtosis
  • an appropriate chart, e.g.,
    (note charts should be edited to create appropriate labels, axes, remove missing values / out of range scores, etc.)
    • bar graph
    • pie chart
    • stem and leaf plot
    • boxplot
    • histogram
    • line graph
    • error bar
• Explore descriptive statistics and graphical summaries of the following bivariate relationships:
  • Gender and favourite colour
    (nominal by nominal)
    • crosstabs
    • clustered bar graph
  • Psychology student status and exercise
    (nominal by ratio)
    • bar graph (means)
    • means table
  • Physical health and mental health
    (ratio by ratio)
    • correlation
    • scatterplot