Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics describe aspects of a data set in a single number. Many descriptive statistics are also used in the computation of inferential statistics. In this section, we will be covering four classes of descriptive statistics. Those classes and their definitions are listed below.

Measures of Central Tendency - measures that indicate the typical or average score.
Measures of Variability - measures that indicate the spread of scores about the measure of central tendency.
Relative Scores - a score for an individual that tells how that individual performed relative to the other individuals on the measure.
Measures of Relationships - measures that indicate the strength and direction of a relationship between two or more variables.

In addition to these widely used descriptive statistics, we will also introduce some other less frequently used statistics, but statistics that you will occasionally run into, especially if you use computers to do your statistical analyses.

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Measures of Central Tendency

Measures of Variability

Relative Scores

Measures of Relationship

Other Descriptive Statistics

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