Descriptive statistics

How it is used

Usually the first table in a results section ('Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics'), with means, standard deviations, medians, ranges and frequencies. Contrasted with inferential statistics, which generalise from a sample to a population.

Example sentences

1. Descriptive statistics for all study variables are presented in Table 1.

2. Start with descriptive statistics so you understand the data before testing anything.

Common collocations

• table of descriptive statistics
• calculate descriptive statistics
• report descriptive statistics
• descriptive analysis

Related terms

• inferential statisticsMethods that use data from a sample to draw conclusions, with a measured level of uncertainty, about a larger population.
• summary statisticsA small set of numbers that describe a data set at a glance, typically the number of observations, the mean, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum.
• meanThe sum of all the values divided by the number of values; the usual 'average' that describes the centre of a set of numbers.
• standard deviationA measure of how spread out values are around the mean; a small value means the data sit close to the mean, a large one means they are widely scattered.
• frequencyThe number of times a value or category occurs in a data set; a relative frequency gives the same information as a proportion or percentage.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• descriptive statistics · Academic English & Research

More terms: Descriptive Statistics

• median
• mode
• variance
• range
• outlier
• percentile
• quartile
• interquartile range
• weighted average
• cross-tabulation