Obtaining Descriptive Statistics for Selected Variables

To obtain descriptive statistics for selected variables:

1. Right-click the selected variables in either Data View or Variable View.
2. From the pop-up menu select Descriptive Statistics.

By default, frequency tables (tables of counts) are displayed for all variables with 24 or fewer unique values. Summary statistics are determined by variable measurement level and data type (numeric or string):

• String. No summary statistics are calculated for string variables.
• Numeric, nominal or unknown measurement level. Range, minimum, maximum, mode.
• Numeric, ordinal measurement level. Range, minimum, maximum, mode, mean, median.
• Numeric, continuous (scale) measurement level. Range, minimum, maximum, mode, mean, median, standard deviation.

You can also obtain bar charts for nominal and ordinal variables, histograms for continuous (scale) variables, and change the cut-off value that determines when to display frequency tables. See the topic Output options for more information.