Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

Psy7620: u06a1 Correlations

Anthony Rhodes
Capella University

2911 Hamilton Blvd. 444

Sioux City, Iowa 51104
Telephone: 712-301-9258
Email: anthonyrhodes54@yahoo.com
Instructor: Dr. Art Bangert, PhD.

Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

Statistical Comparisons and Interpretation

Descriptive Statistics Comparison and Analysis from u03a1

Figure 1: Descriptive Statistics for ADDSC
Descriptive Statistics

Range

Mean

Std. Deviation

Statistic

Statistic

Statistic

Statistic

Skewness

Statistic

Kurtosis

Std. Error

Statistic

Std. Error

GPA

88

3.33

2.4563

.86143

-.352

.257

-.649

.508

ENGG

88

2.66

.945

-.264

.257

-.414

.508

IQ

88

62

100.26

12.985

.394

.257

-.163

.508

Valid N (listwise)

88

Figure 1: The above are the descriptive statistics for the following variables in the ADDSC data
set: GPA, ENGG, IQ computed for Unit 3a1. Adapted from ADDSC scores [Data file], by
Howell, David C., 2009, Statistical Home Page Web site, available from
http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/StatPages/
Figure 1 was used as an assessment tool for Unit 3a1 and indicated the skewness of both the GPA
(-.352) and ENGG (-.264) were negative, whereas the skewness of the IQ (.394) was positive. All of
the above kurtosis values in Fig. 1 (GPA: -.649, ENGG: -.414, IQ: -.163) are negative typically
indicating a platykurtic distribution.

Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

Figure 2: Descriptive Statistics for u04a1 from GPA, ENGG, and IQ

Descriptives

Statistic

GPA

Mean

95% Confidence Interval for

2.4563

Lower Bound

2.2737

Upper Bound

2.6388

Std. Error

.09183

Mean

5% Trimmed Mean

2.4746

Median

2.6350

Variance

Std. Deviation

.742

.86143

Minimum

.67

Maximum

4.00

Range

3.33

Interquartile Range

1.25

Skewness

-.352

.257

Kurtosis

-.649

.508

Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

Figure 2: The above are the detailed descriptive statistics for the following variables in the
ADDSC data set: GPA, ENGG, IQ computed for Unit 4a1. Adapted from ADDSC scores
[Data file], by Howell, David C., 2009, Statistical Home Page Web site, available from
http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/StatPages/
Histogram Analysis for Continuous Variables: GPA, ENGG and IQ
Figure 3: Histogram for GPA

Figure 3: The above is a histogram for the variable GPA. Adapted from ADDSC scores [Data
file], by Howell, David C., 2009, Statistical Home Page Web site, available from
http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/StatPages/
In Fig. 3 the above histogram for the variable GPA is asymmetrical and appears to have a
negative skew, leptokurtic kurtosis and is bimodal. The negative skew matches this authors estimate
from the descriptive statistics of u03a1. Furthermore, a closer look at the more detailed descriptive

Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

statistics for GPA shows that the mean (2.4563) is less than the median (2.635), which confirms that
the skew is negative as well.
However, what appears to be a leptokurtic kurtosis does not match this authors estimate in
u03a1 based upon the negative kurtosis statistic of -.649, which typically indicates a platykurtic
distribution. The small GPA variance of .742 correlates with the leptokurtic distribution as well,
indicating a narrow variance with points clustered around the mean.
Figure 4: Histogram for ENGG

Figure 4: The above is a histogram for the variable ENGG. Adapted from ADDSC scores
[Data file], by Howell, David C., 2009, Statistical Home Page Web site, available from
http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/StatPages/

Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

In Fig. 4 the above histogram for the variable ENGG is asymmetrical and appears to have a
negative skew, leptokurtic kurtosis and is unimodal. The negative skew matches this authors
estimate from the descriptive statistics of u03a1. The mean of (2.66) for ENGG is less than the
median (3.0), which indicates that the skew is negative as well.
However, what appears to be a leptokurtic kurtosis does not match this authors estimate in
u03a1 based upon the negative kurtosis statistic of -.414, which typically indicates a platykurtic or
flat distribution. The standard deviation (SD) of .945 is still low in comparison to the IQ variable.
This typically indicates a leptokurtic distribution which does agree with this authors assessment
provided in the u03a1 analysis above. The variance correlates with the leptokurtic distribution as
well, indicating a narrow variance with points clustered around the mean. This agrees with the small
GPA variance of .742 provided by more detailed descriptive statistics above.
Figure 5: Histogram for IQ

Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

Figure 5: The above is a histogram for the variable IQ. Adapted from ADDSC scores [Data
file], by Howell, David C., 2009, Statistical Home Page Web site, available from
http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/StatPages/
In Fig. 5 the above histogram for the variable IQ is asymmetrical and appears to have a positive
skew, leptokurtic kurtosis and is bimodal. The positive skew matches this authors estimate from the
descriptive statistics of u03a1. The mean of (100.26) for IQ is greater than the median (100.0), which
indicates that the skew is positive as well.
However, what appears to be a leptokurtic kurtosis again does not match this authors estimate
in u03a1 based upon the negative kurtosis statistic of -.163, which typically indicates a platykurtic or
flat distribution. The standard deviation (SD) of 12.985 is high in comparison to the other

Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

variables, which normally indicates a platykurtic distribution as well. The IQ variance of 168.609
also typically indicates a platykurtic distribution with a wide dispersion of scores from the mean.
Summary
Comparisons between the descriptive statistics of variables GPA, ENGG, and IQ in u03a1 and
the visual inspection of the histograms of these variables in u04a1 indicated similarities in skewness,
but differences in variance and kurtosis. This is in part due to the large scores located around the
mean in each of the variables which made the distributions in the histograms appear leptokurtic, not
platykurtic according to the negative kurtosis value. In the case of IQ, the tail of the positive skew in
the histogram is dispersed with large scores which increase the SD and variance and typically
decrease the kurtosis value. Here is where visual inspection of the histograms becomes critical when
analyzing variable distributions of this nature.

Running head: u06a1 CORRELATIONS

References

Howell, D.C. (2008). Fundamental statistics for the behavioral sciences (6th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN: 9780495099000.
Howell, D.C. (2009). Statistical Home Page. ADD scores [Data file]. Retrieved July 24, 2011
from http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/StatPages/