SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

464 DESCRIPTIVES
Example
DESCRIPTIVES VARIABLES=ALL
/SAVE.
• SAVE creates a z-score variable for all variables in the working file. All z-score variables
receive the default name.
Example
DESCRIPTIVES VARIABLES=NTCSAL NTCPUR (PURCHZ) NTCPRI (PRICEZ)
/SAVE.
• DESCRIPTIVES creates three z-score variables named ZNTCSAL (the default name),
PURCHZ, and PRICEZ.
Example
DESCRIPTIVES VARIABLES=SALARY86 SALARY87 SALARY88
/SAVE.
• In this example, the default naming convention would produce duplicate names. Thus, the
names of the three z-score variables are ZSALARY8, ZSC001, and ZSC002.
STATISTICS Subcommand
By default, DESCRIPTIVES displays the mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum.
Use the STATISTICS subcommand to request other statistics.
• When you use STATISTICS, DESCRIPTIVES displays only those statistics you request.
• The keyword ALL obtains all statistics.
• You can specify the keyword DEFAULT to obtain the default statistics without having to
name MEAN, STDDEV, MIN, and MAX.
• The median and mode, which are available in FREQUENCIES and EXAMINE, are not available
in DESCRIPTIVES. These statistics require that values be sorted, and DESCRIPTIVES
does not sort values (the SORT subcommand does not sort values, it simply lists variables
in the order you request).
• If you request a statistic that is not available, DESCRIPTIVES issues an error message and
the command is not executed.
MEAN Mean.
SEMEAN Standard error of the mean.
STDDEV Standard deviation.
VARIANCE Variance.
KURTOSIS Kurtosis and standard error of kurtosis.
SKEWNESS Skewness and standard error of skewness.
RANGE Range.
MIN Minimum observed value.