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Home > Statistics Every Writer Should Know > The Stats Board > Discusssion

normal distribution
Message posted by Christina (via 138.238.2.26) on May 29, 2001 at 6:12 PM (ET)

Help - if a graph of my sample data is right skewed, what does that mean? This also tells me that it is not normally distributed, right?
Thanks


READERS RESPOND:
(In chronological order. Most recent at the bottom.)

Re: normal distribution
Message posted by suluan (via 202.184.22.180) on May 31, 2001 at 2:38 AM (ET)

The skewed graph means that the sample does not come from a normal distribution. However, you need to run other analyses to be sure as having one graph does not give much information. Analyses such as the stem and leaf, box whiskers...etc would be helpful for you to decide. You can get more info from this site: http://web.uccs.edu/lbecker/SPSS/explore1.htm


Re: normal distribution
Message posted by JG (via 209.166.29.54) on June 2, 2001 at 6:33 PM (ET)


Re: normal distribution
Message posted by JG (via 209.166.29.54) on June 2, 2001 at 6:34 PM (ET)

For a normal only the population is symetric. A sample can be skewed. You need to plot your data on special graph paper to see how close to normal you sample is. Remember, samples only approximate the assumed population.



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