2022 Introduction to Statistics in Research Mitchell 2nd ed

I N T R O T O R E S E A R C H : D A T A V I S U A L I Z A T I O N & C O M M O N S T A T T E S T S

Statisticians call the peaks modes. A single peak = unimodal; two peaks - bimodal (and rarely do you see multimodal (three or more peaks).

Essentially, a bell-shaped chart represents a normal distribution, a shape that is skewed right (longer tail on right), means positively skewed, and a shape that is skewed left (longer tail on left) means it is negatively skewed.

The videos below show how to create a histogram (first in Excel, and then SPSS) using the same data (in this case wait time).

UPDATE: The latest Excel has a histogram as a choice, so you don’t have to worry about gap features . You will know if you have the latest version if your Excel chart section looks like this:

Figure 3: Excel Office 365 - showing statistic charts

Histogram in Excel

Histogram in SPSS

Mitchell, J. (2021, Apr. 10). Histogram in Excel. [Video]. Available from https://youtu.be/rsGYG83cMhs

Mitchell, J. (2021, Apr. 10). Histogram in SPSS Version 27. Available from https://youtu.be/s_xKBZl9mqI

If you find yourself needing more, try Math Bits Notebook. This site does a great job in showing visual comparisons!

MathBitsNotebook.com Explains symmetry and skewness well - comparing histograms, dot plots and box plots. Link: https://mathbitsnotebook.com/Algebra1/StatisticsData/STShapes.html

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