# 5 Obtaining descriptive statistics

## Activity 4

0h 20m

This activity demonstrates how a simple dataset can be used to produce some basic statistics. You will see how the data from a simple experiment can be described in a number of different ways.

For example, you will be shown how to produce the following statistical results (as well as finding out what they mean):

- N

- Range

- Minimum

- Maximum

- Mean

- Standard deviation

Warning – these tutorials sometimes don’t display properly in Google Chrome. This is a common issue that occurs when Chrome’s ‘Use hardware acceleration when available’ option is switched on. This option is enabled by default, however disabling it should correct this problem. To do this, click on the three dots in the top right corner of the Chrome browser, select 'Settings’ and then ‘Advanced Settings’ at the bottom. Turn off this option underneath the ‘System’ heading, and then close down and restart Chrome. Alternatively, using a different browser should allow you to view the tutorials properly.

You can download this SPSS file from this tutorial here.

OpenLearn - Getting started with SPSS
Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.