Statistics How To

Intro to SPSS > Z Scores allow you to compare data that’s measured with different units, SPSS can easily convert scale variables to z-scores, Step by step example of how to get z scores in SPSS. A z score is a variable standardized to have a standard deviation of 1 and a mean of 0. … Read more

Statistics Definitions > Kolmogorov Complexity and the minimum description length (MDL) principle helps you to choose among alternate models. Model selection is a huge challenge in statistics, and MDL gives a generic solution by compressing data. The basic idea is that the optimal model is the most compressed model. Kolmogorov Complexity helps you choose a … Read more

Probability Distributions > Dagum distribution The Dagum distribution (also called the Inverse Burr distribution; Dagum called it the generalized logistic-Burr distribution) was proposed by Camilo Dagum in the 1970s to model income and wealth. Dagum developed the models as an alternative to the Pareto Distribution and lognormal distribution, which he felt didn’t result in accurate … Read more

SPSS For Beginners > Key Takeaways: Spearman Correlation in SPSS is an alternative to Pearson Correlation. Data must be ranked/ordinal. Results vary from no correlation (0) to perfect correlation (±1). Spearman correlation is an alternative to Pearson correlation for ranked data or data measured on the ordinal scale. Note: If you are unfamiliar with how … Read more

SPSS for Beginners > Data entry for the Chi-Square Goodness of Fit Test SPSS. How to run the test using Legacy Dialogs. What to do if you have unequal expected values. The chi-square goodness of fit test is used to test for statistical significance between observed and expected frequencies. In other words, we can test … Read more

SPSS for Beginners > How to run a MANCOVA in SPSS Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) is similar to an ANCOVA, except there are one or more covariates in the model. The model has many assumptions to test for (and therefore, many steps!). I’ve outlined the general steps below. The video shows an example for … Read more

Hypothesis Testing > Multivariate analysis of of covariance (MANCOVA) is used to test the statistical significance of the effects of one or more independent variables on a two or more dependent variables, after controlling for covariates. MANCOVA, like other statistical tests, requires data to meet several important assumptions in order to get meaningful results. The … Read more

Hypothesis Testing > MANCOVA Sample Size About the MANCOVA Sample Size MANCOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Covariance) tests for a statistically significant difference on the effect of an independent variable on two or more dependent variables, while removing the effects of one or more covariates. The ability to remove a variety of covariates comes at a … Read more

SPSS For Beginners > How Do I get SPSS to Generate Descriptive Statistics? SPSS has two primary options for calculating statistics: Descriptives (for basic statistics like mean, median, range and standard deviation) and Frequencies (additional options like Quartiles, Percentiles, and more dispersion statistics). Descriptive Statistics SPSS: Descriptives Option Step 1: Click Analyze, mouse over Descriptive … Read more

Regression Analysis > Sinusoidal regression finds a trigonometric model that gives the curve of best fit. The idea is the same as finding the line of best fit in linear regression. However, instead of finding a straight line, this time you’ll find a sinusoidal curve. Data that fits a sinusoidal regression curve tends to fluctuate … Read more