Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics is numerical information of data. Descriptive statistics is collection, presentation, analysis and interpretation of data. OR Descriptive statistics are brief coefficients that summarize a given data set, which can be either a representation of the entire population or a sample of it. They contain measures of central tendency such as mean, median, mode as well as measures of dispersion, such as, variance, standard deviation, etc.

We can get descriptive statistics very easily in excel. The Data set 1 presents a sample of annual salaries for recently hired plant operators for a chemical manufacturing company. Using the data analysis tool for descriptive data on an Excel spreadsheet, I was able to analyze, among other traits, the mean, median, standard deviation, skewness, the minimum, maximum, and range of the salaries. The excel file is shorted on column. Click on the data analysis in the analysis group under the Data tab in excel menu bar. Select Descriptive Statistics form the list of tools. Enter data range in input range text box, select blank column, select Summary statistics and click ok.

The minimum salary was $67,956 and the maximum was $ 81,655 with a range of $ 13,699. The range of salaries was based upon employee experience. The mean salary was calculated, in whole dollars, is $ 75196 which was close to the median salary of $ 74,840. The difference between the mean and the median was $356. This difference can be explained by the skewness score at -0.092, which indicates a slightly longer tail to the left. The skewness is greater than -1.0, therefore the skewness is not substantial and the distribution is symmetrical. Standard deviation was $4686.46 the square root of the variance $21962862.27. Variance is the average of the squared difference of each number from the mean. The standard deviation measure variability and consistency of the sample or population. In most real-world applications, consistency is a great advantage.

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