CTMS-02 Applied Statistics with SPSS

Descriptive statistics

Dr. Georgi Dragolov

09.02.2026

Constructor University
Descriptive statistics

• Describe and provide a summary of the distribution of the measured

phenomenon in terms of:
– Central tendency (the average)
– Dispersion (variability, spread)
– Shape (steepness, symmetry)

• The summary can be

– Quantitative on the basis of sample statistics
– Visual using graphs

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Measures of central tendency

• Mode
– The only measure of central tendency for a nominally scaled
variable
– Most frequent score in a distribution
– A distribution can have no mode (uniform), one (unimodal), two
(bimodal), or multiple modes (multimodal)

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Measures of central tendency

• Mode
– Example: 2, 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 0, 9, 2, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3

The mode of this distribution of scores is 2 (occurs 5 times).

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Measures of central tendency

• Median
– The most comprehensive measure of central tendency for
ordinally scaled variables
– Score in the middle position of the distribution: 50% of the scores
in the sample are below and above the median

– Example 1 (odd n):

2, 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 0, 9, 2, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3

0, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 9

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Measures of central tendency

• Median
– Example 2 (even n):

2, 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 0, 9, 2, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3, 1

0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 9

The median is: (2 + 3)/2 = 2.5

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Measures of central tendency

• Mean
– Arithmetic average of all scores in the distribution
– Population mean – Sample mean

– Unlike the mode and the median, the mean is sensitive to all
scores in the distribution (especially to extreme values)
– Most comprehensive measure of central tendency for interval
and ratio-scaled variables

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Measures of central tendency

• Mean
– Population mean – Sample mean

– Example:
2, 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 0, 9, 2, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3

x̅ = (2 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 0 + 9 + 2 + 6 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 3) / 15
= 3.2

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Measures of dispersion

• Range
= xmax - xmin
– Difference between the highest and the lowest score in the
distribution
– provides the size of the interval in which the values are located
– Note that the range can be affected by extreme values

– Example:
2, 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 0, 9, 2, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3
Range = 9 – 0 = 9

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Measures of dispersion

• Interquartile range (IQR)

– Difference between the lowest score of the highest 25% of the
distribution (Q3) and the highest score of the lowest 25% of the
distribution (Q1)

– Unlike the range, not affected by extreme values

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Measures of dispersion

• Interquartile range
– Example:
2, 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 0, 9, 2, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3

0, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 9

n = 15
Q1: 15 * 0.25 = 3.75th score of the distribution, i.e. 2
Q3: 15 * 0.75 = 11.25th score of the distribution, i.e. 4
IQR = 4 – 2 =2

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Measures of dispersion

• Variance
– Average variability of the scores in the distribution, expressed as
squared deviations from the mean
– does not have a meaningful interpretation due to squaring
– Population variance

σ2 =

– Sample variance

s2 =

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Measures of dispersion

• Standard deviation
– Standard distance of the scores in the distribution from its mean;
square root of the variance
– can be interpreted: it has the measurement units of the scores
– Population standard deviation

σ=

– Sample standard deviation

s= =

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Measures of dispersion

• Standard deviation
– Example:
2, 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 0, 9, 2, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3
(2 – 3.2)² = 1.44 (4 – 3.2)² = 0.64 (3 – 3.2)² = 0.04
(2 – 3.2)² = 1.44 (5 – 3.2)² = 3.24 (2 – 3.2)² = 1.44
(1 – 3.2)² = 4.84 (0 – 3.2)² = 10.24 (9 – 3.2)² = 33.64
(2 – 3.2)² = 1.44 (6 – 3.2)² = 7.84 (4 – 3.2)² = 0.64
(3 – 3.2)² = 0.04 (2 – 3.2)² = 1.44 (3 – 3.2)² = 0.04

σ2 = = 68.40 / 15 = 4.56, hence σ = √4.56 = 2.14

s2 = = 68.40 / 14 = 4.89, hence s = √4.89 = 2.21

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Measures of shape

• Skewness
– measure for the symmetry of a distribution
– Formula

– if g1 = 0
• no skew
• symmetric distribution
• mode = median = mean

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Measures of shape

• Skewness
– if g1 > 0
• positive skew
• right-skewed distribution
• mode < median < mean

– if g1 < 0
• negative skew
• left-skewed distribution
• mode > median > mean

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Measures of shape

• Kurtosis
– measure for the steepness of a distribution
– Formula

– if g2 > 0: leptokurtic

– if g2 = 0: mesokurtic (normal)

– if g2 < 0: platykurtic

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Level of measurement and Descriptive statistics

Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio

Mode Yes Yes Yes Yes
tendency
Central

(incl. count, frequency)

Median Yes Yes Yes
Mean Yes Yes
Dispersion

Range Yes Yes Yes

(incl. min, max)
Standard deviation Yes Yes
(incl. variance)
Form

Skewness Yes Yes

Kurtosis Yes Yes

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Describing data by visualization

• What should be in the graph?

– Full information
• representation of all observations
• meaningful for categorical data (nominal and ordinal) or
metric data (interval and ratio) of rather limited range

– Summary
• Central tendency
• Dispersion
• Shape

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Describing data by visualization

• Examples of graphs for categorical data

– Bar chart
– Pie chart

• Examples of graphs for metric data

– Histogram
– Box plot

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Bar chart

• also called column diagram

• created on the basis of the frequencies (number) of the scores in the
respective categories
• suitable form of representation for a small number of categories
• the length of a bar (height of a column) is proportional to the
frequency of the corresponding score

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Bar chart (vertical bars)

• Based on the frequencies (counts) of the categories

• Example: Majors represented in this year’s SPSS course
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=major
/BARCHART FREQ
/FORMAT=DFREQ.
/* Value labels appended manually. */

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Bar chart (horizontal bars)

• Based on the frequencies (counts) of the categories

• Example: Majors represented in this year’s SPSS course
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=major
/BARCHART FREQ
/FORMAT=AFREQ.
* Chart Editor -> Options -> Transpose chart.

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Pie chart

• also called circle chart

• created on the basis of the frequencies (number) of the scores in the
respective categories
• suitable form of representation for up to seven categories, otherwise
confusing
• The size (area) of a pie sector is proportional to the share of the
corresponding score

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Pie chart

• Based on the frequencies (counts) of the categories

• Example: Majors represented in this year’s SPSS course
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=major
/PIECHART FREQ
/FORMAT=AFREQ.
* Value labels appended manually.

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Histogram

• Based on the frequencies (counts) of the observations

• Steps to construct
– “Bin” the observed range of values, i.e. divide the range in series
of intervals
– Count how many values fall into each bin
– Display bins as consecutive, non-overlapping intervals
– If bins are of equal width, the height of the erected rectangle over
each bin is proportional to the frequency of the cases in it

• Depicts central tendency and dispersion

– Keep in mind: the number of bins makes the histogram – too few
or too many may distort the picture

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Histogram

• Example: Exam grades (points) for 2025 R course

– Three bins – Five bins
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=pts
/HISTOGRAM.
* Number of bins adjusted manually via chart editor.

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Histogram

• Example: Exam grades (points) for 2025 R course

– Default number of bins
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=pts
/HISTOGRAM.

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Box plot

• Depicts also central tendency, but focuses on dispersion and shape

• Elements
– Lower end of whiskers = Q1 – 1.5 * IQR
– Q1: end of first quartile, lower end of the box
– Median (= Q2)
– Q3: end of third quartile, upper end of the box
– Upper end of whiskers = Q3 + 1.5 * IQR
– Outliers depicted as dots outside the whiskers’ range

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Box plot

• Size of the box (IQR = Q3 – Q1) represents the “inner” 50 % of the

distribution
– The smaller the box, the denser the scores in the distribution
(lower dispersion)
• The shorter the whiskers, the denser the scores
• If the median is in the center of the box and both whiskers are of the
same length, the distribution is symmetric (not skewed)

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Box plot

• Example: Exam grades (points) for 2025 R course

EXAMINE VARIABLES=pts
/PLOT=BOXPLOT.
* Original boxplot vertical. Transposed manually to horizontal via chart editor.

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Describing data: quantitative vs. visual

• Example: Exam grades (points) for 2025 R course

This slide shows the tabulation of points. Compare to the visualizations.
– Tabulation (frequency) of the grades
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=pts.

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Describing data: quantitative vs. visual

• Example: Exam grades (points) for 2025 R course

This slide shows the descriptive statistics for the distribution of points.
Compare to the visualizations.
– Descriptive statistics
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=pts
/STATISTICS=STDDEV VARIANCE RANGE MINIMUM MAXIMUM MEAN MEDIAN MODE.

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