Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics are used to describe the basic features of the data in a study.
They provide simple summaries about the sample and the measures. Together with
simple graphics analysis, they form the basis of virtually every quantitative analysis
of data.

Descriptive statistics are typically distinguished from inferential statistics . With

descriptive statistics you are simply describing what is or what the data shows. With
inferential statistics, you are trying to reach conclusions that extend beyond the
immediate data alone. For instance, we use inferential statistics to try to infer from
the sample data what the population might think. Or, we use inferential statistics to
make judgments of the probability that an observed difference between groups is a
dependable one or one that might have happened by chance in this study. Thus, we
use inferential statistics to make inferences from our data to more general
conditions; we use descriptive statistics simply to describe what’s going on in our
data.

Descriptive Statistics are used to present quantitative descriptions in a manageable

form. In a research study we may have lots of measures. Or we may measure a
large number of people on any measure. Descriptive statistics help us to simplify
large amounts of data in a sensible way. Each descriptive statistic reduces lots of
data into a simpler summary. For instance, consider a simple number used to
summarize how well a batter is performing in baseball, the batting average. This
single number is simply the number of hits divided by the number of times at bat
(reported to three significant digits). A batter who is hitting .333 is getting a hit one
time in every three at bats. One batting .250 is hitting one time in four. The single
number describes a large number of discrete events. Or, consider the scourge of
many students, the Grade Point Average (GPA). This single number describes the
general performance of a student across a potentially wide range of course
experiences.

Every time you try to describe a large set of observations with a single indicator you
run the risk of distorting the original data or losing important detail. The batting
average doesn’t tell you whether the batter is hitting home runs or singles. It doesn’t
tell whether she’s been in a slump or on a streak. The GPA doesn’t tell you whether
the student was in difficult courses or easy ones, or whether they were courses in
their major field or in other disciplines. Even given these limitations, descriptive
statistics provide a powerful summary that may enable comparisons across people
or other units.

Understanding Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics, in short, help describe and understand the features of a
specific data set by giving short summaries about the sample and measures of
the data. The most recognized types of descriptive statistics are measures of
center: the mean, median, and mode, which are used at almost all levels of math
and statistics. The mean, or the average, is calculated by adding all the figures
within the data set and then dividing by the number of figures within the set. For
example, the sum of the following data set is 20: (2, 3, 4, 5, 6). The mean is 4
(20/5). The mode of a data set is the value appearing most often, and the median
is the figure situated in the middle of the data set. It is the figure separating the
higher figures from the lower figures within a data set. However, there are less-
common types of descriptive statistics that are still very important.

People use descriptive statistics to repurpose hard-to-understand quantitative

insights across a large data set into bite-sized descriptions. A student's grade
point average (GPA), for example, provides a good understanding of descriptive
statistics. The idea of a GPA is that it takes data points from a wide range of
exams, classes, and grades, and averages them together to provide a general
understanding of a student's overall academic abilities. A student's personal GPA
reflects his mean academic performance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 Descriptive statistics summarizes or describes characteristics of a data set.

 Descriptive statistics consists of two basic categories of measures:
measures of central tendency and measures of variability or spread.
 Measures of central tendency describe the center of a data set.
 Measures of variability or spread describe the dispersion of data within the
set.
Measures of Descriptive Statistics
All descriptive statistics are either measures of central tendency or measures
of variability, also known as measures of dispersion. Measures of central
tendency focus on the average or middle values of data sets; whereas, measures
of variability focus on the dispersion of data. These two measures use graphs,
tables, and general discussions to help people understand the meaning of the
analyzed data.

Measures of central tendency describe the center position of a distribution for a

data set. A person analyzes the frequency of each data point in the distribution
and describes it using the mean, median, or mode, which measures the most
common patterns of the analyzed data set.

Measures of variability, or the measures of spread, aid in analyzing how spread-

out the distribution is for a set of data. For example, while the measures of
central tendency may give a person the average of a data set, it does not
describe how the data is distributed within the set. So, while the average of the
data may be 65 out of 100, there can still be data points at both 1 and 100.
Measures of variability help communicate this by describing the shape and
spread of the data set. Range, quartiles, absolute deviation, and variance are all
examples of measures of variability. Consider the following data set: 5, 19, 24,
62, 91, 100. The range of that data set is 95, which is calculated by subtracting
the lowest number (5) in the data set from the highest (100).

Descriptive statistics allow you to characterize your data based on its properties. There
are four major types of descriptive statistics:

1. Measures of Frequency:
* Count, Percent, Frequency

* Shows how often something occurs

* Use this when you want to show how often a response is given

2. Measures of Central Tendency

* Mean, Median, and Mode

* Locates the distribution by various points

* Use this when you want to show how an average or most commonly indicated
response

3. Measures of Dispersion or Variation

* Range, Variance, Standard Deviation

* Identifies the spread of scores by stating intervals

* Range = High/Low points

* Variance or Standard Deviation = difference between observed score and mean

* Use this when you want to show how "spread out" the data are. It is helpful to know
when your data are so spread out that it affects the mean

4. Measures of Position
* Percentile Ranks, Quartile Ranks

* Describes how scores fall in relation to one another. Relies on standardized scores

* Use this when you need to compare scores to a normalized score (e.g., a national
norm)

Statistics allow you to evaluate claims based on quantitative evidence and help you

differentiate between reasonable and dubious conclusions. ... When analysts
use statistical procedures correctly, they tend to produce accurate results. In
fact, statistical analyses account for uncertainty and error in the results.