3: Descriptive Statistics
- Page ID
- 1728
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- 3.1: Statistics of Central Tendency
- A statistic of central tendency tells you where the middle of a set of measurements is. The arithmetic mean is by far the most common, but the median, geometric mean, and harmonic mean are sometimes useful.
- 3.2: Statistics of Dispersion
- Summarizing data from a measurement variable requires a number that represents the "middle" of a set of numbers along with a measure of the "spread" of the numbers. You use a statistic of dispersion to give a single number that describes how compact or spread out a set of observations is. Although statistics of dispersion are usually not very interesting by themselves, they form the basis of most statistical tests used on measurement variables.
- 3.3: Standard Error of the Mean
- Standard error of the mean tells you how accurate your estimate of the mean is likely to be.
- 3.4: Confidence Limits
- Confidence limits tell you how accurate your estimate of the mean is likely to be.