Unit 2 · Describe your data

How to get descriptive statistics in SPSS

Use Analyze › Descriptive Statistics › Descriptives to get the mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum, and read the output.

Free lessonAbout 5 minutes4 practice questions
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The Descriptives dialog

Analyze › Descriptive Statistics › Descriptives gives you the mean and spread of Scale variables in one compact table.

Descriptives
Variables
Participant ID [id]
Gender [gender]
▶
Variable(s):1
Age in years [age]
Exam score (%) [score]
Options…2Style…Bootstrap…
Save standardized values as variables3
OKPaste4ResetCancelHelp
  1. 1
    Variable(s)Move your Scale variables here, such as score or age. Categories belong in Frequencies instead.
  2. 2
    Options…Chooses the statistics: mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum by default, plus skewness and kurtosis for checking normality.
  3. 3
    Save standardized valuesCreates a new column of z-scores for each variable, handy for spotting outliers (beyond ±3.29).
  4. 4
    PasteGives you the DESCRIPTIVES syntax for your records.

Reading Descriptive Statistics

One row per variable. Read across to get the numbers you'll put in your Method or Results section.

Output1 [Document1] – SPSS Statistics Viewer
FileEditViewDataTransformAnalyzeGraphsUtilitiesExtensionsWindowHelp
Output
Log
Descriptives
Title
Notes
Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive Statistics
N1Minimum2MaximumMean3Std. Deviation4
score100329867.4512.31
Valid N (listwise)5100
  1. 1
    NHow many people have a value for this variable.
  2. 2
    Minimum and MaximumYour typo detector. A score of 980 on a 0–100 test would show up here.
  3. 3
    MeanThe average score.
  4. 4
    Std. DeviationHow spread out scores are around the mean. Report it with the mean: M = 67.45, SD = 12.31.
  5. 5
    Valid N (listwise)People with no missing values on any of the variables you listed.

Practise it yourself

Reading is only half of it. The lesson has 4 quick questions where you tap through the SPSS menus, read the output and choose the right write-up, with instant feedback on every answer.

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More in Describe your data

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