DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND INTERPRETATION

Descriptive Statistics and Interpretation

Tanesha Wilson
QNT/561
June 22, 2016
Dr. Shawny DeBerry

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND INTERPRETATION

Descriptive Statistics and Interpretation

Organizationsusevariousmethodstoanalyzedata.Descriptivestatisticsisonemethod
usedtopresentdatainawaythatallowsresearcherstointerpretthedataeasier.Although
descriptivestatisticsincludebothsummaryandgraphicalstatistics,thegraphsserveasavisual
aidtopresentthedata(Missingdata,descriptivestatistics,andoverviewoftheanalysis,2015).
.Ingeneral,twokindsofstatisticsareusedwhendescribingdata:

Centraltendencyusedtodescribethecentralpositionforafrequencydistributionwith

thesamplegroup(Cooper&Schindler,2013).
Measuresofspreadusedtosummarizedatabyexplaininghowspreadoutthescores
are.
Whenusingdescriptivestatisticstoanalyzedata,researchersshoulduseacombinationof

graphs,charts,tables,andcommentarywheninterpretingandpresentingtheirfindings.Graphs
areusedbecauseoftheirsimplicity,barchartsallowsaneasydisplayofdataclassifiedby
numbersinnominalcategories,andhistogramsdisplaysintervalandratiodataeffectively
(Missingdata,descriptivestatistics,andoverviewoftheanalysis,2015).
ThisresearchwillprovidedescriptivestatisticsforMajorLeagueBaseball(MLB)forthe
2012season.Itwillalsosummarizethefindingsofthedataaswellasprovidegraphicaldatato
supporttheobservation.Theresearchquestionwasrevisedforthispartofthepaperbecauseof
thelackofdataregardingsteroidandperformanceenhancingdrugsusewithinMLB.
RQ1:IstherearelationshipbetweenplayerswhousesteroidsorPEDsandhowthose
playersperformduringbaseballgames?
RQ2:Whatistherelationshipbetweentheyearabaseballstadiumisbuiltandthe
numberofpeopleattendinggamesatthestadiuminayear.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND INTERPRETATION

Descriptive Statistics
Numeric Variable: Year Stadium Built
Normally distributed: Mean and Standard Deviation
Central Tendency: Mean = 1,980
Dispersion: Standard Deviation = 25.94
Number: 30
Min/Max: 1912/2004
Confidence Interval: 1971 to 1990
See the histogram and bar chart in Appendix B, descriptive statistics in Appendix C, and
scatterplot in Appendix D
Numeric Variable: Stadium Size
Normally distributed: Mean and Standard Deviation
Central Tendency: Mean = 45,912.60
Dispersion: Standard Deviation = 5,894.20
Number: 30
Min/Max: 33,871/57,746
Confidence Interval: 43803.43 to 48021.77
See bar chart in Appendix B, and descriptive statistics in Appendix C

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND INTERPRETATION

Descriptive Statistics Interpretation

Numeric Variable: Year Stadium Built
The independent variable x is the year the stadium was built. From 1912 through 2004,
a period of 92 years, 30 major league baseball stadiums were constructed across the United
States. Thats about one stadium every three years. A little more than half of the stadiums were
built after 1991. Years 1966 and 2000 had the highest number of stadiums built, three in each
year. The longest era of continuous, yearly stadium construction was from 1989 through 2001.
During this period, an average of one stadium was constructed per year until 2001, with the
exception of 2000. The longest period without any stadiums being built was from 1923 to 1961.
About one-third of the stadiums were built before 1989 and about two-thirds of the stadiums
were built after 1989. The mean year for stadium construction was1989, the median year was
1991. The mode is 3 representing the construction of 3 baseball stadiums in 1966 and 2000.
Numeric Variable: Stadium Size (Capacity)
The dependent variable y, is number of seats at the baseball stadium. The attendance
numbers do not reflect total attendance of persons at the stadiums, only the number of seats
available in the stadium. Of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums the smallest stadium is the
oldest stadium, built in 19912. The stadium with the highest seating capacity of 57,716, was
built in 1923. The average (mean) stadium size seats about 45, 912. Out of the top five stadiums
with the largest seating capacity, two were constructed over 20 years ago and three were
constructed over 50 years ago.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND INTERPRETATION

Appendix A
Raw Data Analyzed

Year Stadium Built

MLB Stadium
Capacity

1912
1923
1966
1992
1966
1994
1991
1989
1982
1990
1994
2000
1999
1973
1993
1998
2000
2003
1964
2001
1962
2004
1961
2000
1966
1987
2004
2001
1914
1995

33871
57746
43662
48262
45050
43368
44321
50516
48678
44027
52000
40000
45611
40529
50062
49075
42000
42059
55775
38127
56000
49625
56000
40800
49625
42531
43500
42400
38951
50381

Appendix B
Histogram#ofStadiumsbuilt,1910to2005

Appendix D
Scatterplot
70000
60000
50000
40000

Seat Size

30000
20000
10000
0
1900

1920

1940

1960

1980

Year Stadium Built

2000

2020

Reference
Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. Business research methods (12th e.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill
Missing data, descriptive statistics, and overview of the analysis. (2015, June). Monographs of
the Society for Research, 80(2), 44-64. doi:10.1111/mono.12159