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Practical 1 Data Analysis Descriptive Statistics

This document provides a comprehensive guide on calculating summary statistics in Excel, including steps for using the Data Analysis tool to generate descriptive statistics. It explains key concepts such as measures of central tendency, variability, standard deviation, variance, standard error, skewness, and kurtosis, along with their implications in data analysis. The document emphasizes the importance of these statistics in understanding data sets and making informed conclusions.

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17 views12 pages

Practical 1 Data Analysis Descriptive Statistics

This document provides a comprehensive guide on calculating summary statistics in Excel, including steps for using the Data Analysis tool to generate descriptive statistics. It explains key concepts such as measures of central tendency, variability, standard deviation, variance, standard error, skewness, and kurtosis, along with their implications in data analysis. The document emphasizes the importance of these statistics in understanding data sets and making informed conclusions.

Uploaded by

sravane1608
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Practical 1

Data Analysis & Graphing in Excel


How to Calculate Summary Statistics in Excel
1. Use the data analysis tools.
a. Open the worksheet with your data. Select the “Data” tab , then “Data
Analysis”, then from the list choose “Descriptive Statistics” and select “OK” .

b. From here, with your cursor in the Input Range, select your data in column A. Then put
your cursor in the Output Range block and select an empty cell in your work sheet.
Click the box labelled “Summary Statistics” so a check mark appears, then select “OK”.
c. Excel will now show you the summary statistics. I have added highlights to show the
mean, standard deviation, standard error, and sample size which are the summary
statistics that you will most commonly use for your write-ups in our labs
Descriptive Statistics
 Descriptive statistics summarizes or describes the characteristics of
a data set.
 Descriptive statistics consists of three basic categories of measures:
measures of central tendency, measures of variability (or spread),
and frequency distribution.
 Measures of central tendency describe the center of the data set
(mean, median, mode).
 Measures of variability describe the dispersion of the data set
(variance, standard deviation).
 Measures of frequency distribution describe the occurrence of data
within the data set (count).

What Is Descriptive Statistics?


Descriptive statistics is a means of describing features of a data set by
generating summaries about data samples. It's often depicted as a
summary of data shown that explains the contents of data. For example, a
population census may include descriptive statistics regarding the ratio of
men and women in a specific city.

The main purpose of descriptive statistics is to provide information about a


data set
Standard deviation
That is, how data is spread out from the mean. A low standard deviation indicates
that the data points tend to be close to the mean of the data set, while a high
standard deviation indicates that the data points are spread out over a wider range of
values

There are situations when we have to choose between


sample or population Standard Deviation.

When we are asked to find SD of some part of a


population, a segment of population; then we use sample
Standard Deviation.

where x̅ is mean of a sample.

But when we have to deal with a whole population, then


we use population Standard Deviation.

where µ is mean of a population.


in descriptive statistics, we generally deal with data
available in a sample, not in a population.
Variance

Variance is a square of average distance between each


quantity and mean. That is it is square of standard
deviation.

Range

Range is one of the simplest techniques of descriptive


statistics. It is the difference between the lowest and
highest value.

What Is the Standard Error?


The standard error (SE) of a statistic is the approximate standard deviation
of a statistical sample population. The standard error is a statistical term
that measures the accuracy with which a sample distribution represents a
population by using standard deviation. In statistics, a sample mean
deviates from the actual mean of a population; this deviation is the
standard error of the mean.

Where ‘s’ is the standard deviation and n is the number of observations.

The smaller the standard error, the more representative the sample will be
of the overall population.
What is Skewness?

Skewness is a measure of symmetry in a distribution. Actually,


it’s more correct to describe it as a measure of lack of
symmetry. A standard normal distribution is perfectly
symmetrical and has zero skew. Other examples of zero-
skewed distributions are the T Distribution, the uniform
distribution and the Laplace distribution.
Kurtosis
Kurtosis is a statistical measure used to describe the degree to
which scores cluster in the tails or the peak of a frequency
distribution. The peak is the tallest part of the distribution, and the
tails are the ends of the distribution.
There are three types of kurtosis: mesokurtic, leptokurtic, and
platykurtic.
 Mesokurtic: Distributions that are moderate in breadth
and curves with a medium peaked height.
 Leptokurtic: More values in the distribution tails and
more values close to the mean (i.e. sharply peaked with
heavy tails)
 Platykurtic: Fewer values in the tails and fewer values
close to the mean (i.e. the curve has a flat peak and has
more dispersed scores with lighter tails).

When kurtosis is equal to 3, the distribution is mesokurtic.

This means the kurtosis is the same as the normal distribution, it is


mesokurtic (medium peak).

The kurtosis of a mesokurtic distribution is neither high nor low,


rather it is considered to be a baseline for the two other
classifications.
What does it mean when kurtosis is zero?

When kurtosis is equal to 0, the distribution is platykurtic.


A platykurtic distribution is flatter (less peaked) when compared
with the normal distribution, with fewer values in its shorter (i.e.
lighter and thinner) tails.

What does it mean when kurtosis is negative?


Negative excess values of kurtosis (<3) indicate that a distribution
is flat and has thin tails. Platykurtic distributions have negative
kurtosis values.
A platykurtic distribution is flatter (less peaked) when compared
with the normal distribution, with fewer values in its shorter (i.e.
lighter and thinner) tails.
What does it mean when kurtosis is positive?
Positive excess values of kurtosis (>3) indicate that a distribution is
peaked and possess thick tails. Leptokurtic distributions have
positive kurtosis values.
A leptokurtic distribution has a higher peak (thin bell) and taller
(i.e. fatter and heavy) tails than a normal distribution.
An extreme positive kurtosis indicates a distribution where more of
the values are located in the tails of the distribution rather than
around the mean.

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