0.1 Calculating descriptive statistics  (Page 2/4)

• * Copy or cut the frequency table for this z -score variable and carry it into WORD. Delete any irrelevant information.

• To calculate a T -score for any continuous variable:
• √ Analyze
• * Descriptive Statistics
• * Descriptives
• * Send variable on which you want T scores to be calculated to empty cell
• * Check box for Save standardized values as variables

• * OK
• * You will be sent to the output window. Nothing in the output window is helpful. Go to the SPSS data screen by clicking on the data button bottom of screen. A new variable(s) will have been generated for you. This variable will be inserted into a formula so that you can have T scores.
• * Variable view window

• √ Create a new variable for your T score variable
• * Data view window
• * Transform
• * Compute Variable

• * Name your target variable the name you just generated for your T score variable
• * In the numeric expression window, type:
• * 50 + (10 x [name of the z -score variable generated by the computer earlier])

• * OK

• * Respond yes to change existing variable
• * You may be sent to the output screen. Nothing there is helpful.
• * Go to data button and view your new T score variable.
• * To get this information in a usable output form, do the following:

• √ Analyze
• * Descriptive Statistics
• * Frequencies
• * Move over the newly created T score variable
• * Make sure the frequencies box is checked.

• * OK
• * Copy or cut the frequency table for this T score variable and carry it into WORD. Delete any irrelevant information.

Writing up your statistics

So, how do you "write up" your Research Questions and your Results? Schuler W. Huck (2000) in his seminal book entitled, Reading Statistics and Research, points to the importance of your audience understanding and making sense of your research in written form. Huck further states:

This book is designed to help people decipher what researchers are trying to communicate in the written or oral summaries of their investigations. Here, the goal is simply to distill meaning from the words, symbols, tables, and figures included in the research report. To be competent in this arena, one must not only be able to decipher what's presented but also to "fill in the holes"; this is the case because researchers typically assume that those receiving the research report are familiar with unmentioned details of the research process and statistical treatment of data.

A Note from the Editors

Click here to view: Writing Up Your Descriptive Staistics

References

• Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.) . Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum
• Hyperstats Online Statistics Textbook. (n.d.) Retrieved from (External Link)
• Kurtosis. (n.d.). Definition. Retrieved from (External Link)&term_id=326
• Kurtosis. (n.d.). Definition of normality . Retrieved from (External Link)
• Onwuegbuzie, A. J.,&Daniel, L. G. (2002). Uses and misuses of the correlation coefficient. Research in the Schools, 9 (1) , 73-90.
• Skewness. (n.d.) Retrieved from (External Link)&term_id=356
• Skewness. (n.d.). Definition of normality . Retrieved from (External Link)
• StatSoft, Inc. (2011). Electronic statistics textbook. Tulsa, OK: StatSoft. WEB: (External Link)