Which numbers belong in the first table of your results chapter, and how many decimals should they have? Descriptive statistics look like the easy part of a thesis, yet they draw a surprising share of examiner comments: SPSS tables pasted with their gridlines, means for nominal variables, percentages without counts, four decimal places, and a paragraph that repeats every number in the table. This guide to descriptive statistics in APA style sets out which statistics to report for each type of variable, the APA 7 conventions for numbers, symbols and tables, and a worked example that turns SPSS output into Table 1 (the sample), Table 2 (the study variables) and the sentences that introduce them.
This article is part of our guide How to Write a Master’s Thesis by the Mastermind PhD team and relates to our Statistical Analysis service. Sources last checked: November 2026.
What are descriptive statistics? Descriptive statistics summarize a set of observations without drawing inferences about a wider population. They answer three questions about each variable: where its values are centered (mean, median, mode), how spread out they are (standard deviation, range, interquartile range) and what shape the distribution has (skewness, kurtosis, frequencies). In a thesis they appear in the sample description, in the description of each study variable, and alongside every inferential test, where they give the test result its meaning.
Which statistics should you report for each type of variable?
The level of measurement decides the statistic. Reporting a mean for “faculty” or a percentage breakdown of a 40-item scale score are the two most common mismatches.
| Variable type | Examples | Report | Do not report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal | Gender, faculty, employment sector | Frequency (n) and percentage for each category; the mode if useful | Mean or standard deviation |
| Ordinal | Educational level, single Likert item, satisfaction rank | n and percentage per category; median (Mdn) and interquartile range (IQR) | Mean as the only summary |
| Interval or ratio | Age, test score, response time | Mean (M), standard deviation (SD), minimum and maximum; skewness and kurtosis when normality matters | Percentages of individual values |
| Scale score (several Likert items averaged) | Job satisfaction score, burnout score | M, SD, range, skewness, kurtosis; a verbal level if your program uses an interpretation key | Frequencies of every item unless required |
| Skewed ratio variable | Income, days absent, number of publications | Mdn and IQR (and M, SD for comparability) | The mean alone |
Scale scores built from several Likert items are treated as interval in most quantitative theses, following Norman (2010); single items remain ordinal. State this decision once in the methodology chapter.
How do you describe the sample?
Table 1 in a quantitative thesis is almost always the demographic profile. It contains every grouping variable you will later use in a t-test, ANOVA or chi-square, so examiners check it for small categories. A group of 11 respondents out of 312 will be flagged here before it causes trouble later.
In SPSS, run Analyze, then Descriptive Statistics, then Frequencies, and move all demographic variables into the list. Report counts and valid percentages (percentages after excluding missing values), and say how many responses were excluded and why. The paragraph that introduces the table highlights only what matters for the analysis, such as a gender imbalance or an experience category that will be collapsed.
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How do you describe the study variables?
Table 2 summarizes the main constructs, usually one row per scale or subscale. Run Analyze, then Descriptive Statistics, then Descriptives, select the scale scores, and under Options tick Mean, Std. deviation, Minimum, Maximum, Skewness and Kurtosis. For descriptives split by group, use Explore with a factor variable or Compare Means, then Means.
Many programs in the Middle East, Asia and parts of Europe expect a verbal level for each mean (“high”, “moderate”). The usual key for a 5-point scale uses the class interval (5 minus 1) divided by 5 = 0.80: 1.00 to 1.80 very low, 1.81 to 2.60 low, 2.61 to 3.40 moderate, 3.41 to 4.20 high, 4.21 to 5.00 very high; some programs use three levels with an interval of 1.33. UK and most EU programs expect no key and are satisfied with M and SD against the scale range. Whichever convention applies, state it in the methodology, cite its source, and apply it to every mean without rounding toward a nicer label.
What are the APA 7 rules for numbers and symbols?
| Element | APA 7 rule | Typical error |
|---|---|---|
| Decimal places | Two for means, standard deviations and most statistics; percentages as whole numbers or one decimal; exact p to two or three decimals | M = 3.6214 |
| Leading zero | Omit it for statistics that cannot exceed 1 (p = .003, r = .42, Cronbach’s alpha = .87); keep it otherwise (SD = 0.71, d = 0.39) | p = 0.003 |
| Symbols | Latin statistical symbols in italics: M, SD, Mdn, n, N, p, r, t, F, df; Greek letters (η², χ²) and abbreviations not in italics | Roman M, italic χ² |
| N versus n | N for the whole sample, n for a subgroup | N = 189 for women in a sample of 312 |
| Percentages | Numeral followed by the % symbol (60.6%), always with the n it was computed from | “about 60 percent” |
| Numbers in text | Numerals for 10 and above and for all numbers with units or statistics; words for numbers below 10 in ordinary prose; never begin a sentence with a numeral | “312 teachers took part.” as a sentence opener |
| Ranges | “ranged from 1.40 to 5.00”, or “1.40–5.00” in tables | “1.40 – 5.00” with a hyphen |
| Scale anchors | Give the scale range once: “on a 5-point scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)” | Means with no indication of the scale |
These rules for descriptive statistics in APA style come from the Publication Manual (APA, 2020, chapter 6) and the APA Style tables and figures guidance. When your faculty’s handbook disagrees, the handbook wins; document the choice.
How do you build an APA table?
An APA 7 table has five parts: the table number in bold above the table (Table 1); the title in italic title case on the next line; a heading for every column, including the first; the body; and an optional note beginning with Note. in italics that explains abbreviations, the scale range, the interpretation key or probability symbols.
Use horizontal rules only: above the column headings, below them, and at the bottom of the table. No vertical lines, shading or SPSS gridlines. Align decimals in each column and keep the same number of decimals within a column. Refer to every table by number before it appears (“as Table 2 shows”), never by position (“the table below”).
Worked example: from SPSS output to Table 1, Table 2 and the text
A thesis surveys 312 secondary-school teachers with four scales on a 5-point Likert format. The SPSS Frequencies output for the demographics and the Descriptives output for the scale scores become the following two tables of descriptive statistics in APA style.
Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of the Sample (N = 312)
| Characteristic | Category | n | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Women | 189 | 60.6 |
| Men | 123 | 39.4 | |
| Teaching experience | Less than 5 years | 74 | 23.7 |
| 5 to 10 years | 118 | 37.8 | |
| More than 10 years | 120 | 38.5 | |
| Highest qualification | Bachelor’s degree | 231 | 74.0 |
| Master’s degree or higher | 81 | 26.0 |
Table 2 Descriptive Statistics for the Study Variables (N = 312)
| Variable | M | SD | Min | Max | Skewness | Kurtosis | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transformational leadership | 3.71 | 0.66 | 1.60 | 5.00 | −0.45 | 0.33 | High |
| Job satisfaction | 3.62 | 0.71 | 1.40 | 5.00 | −0.38 | 0.21 | High |
| Organizational commitment | 3.58 | 0.74 | 1.25 | 5.00 | −0.33 | 0.12 | High |
| Organizational trust | 3.48 | 0.79 | 1.00 | 5.00 | −0.21 | −0.30 | High |
Note. Scores are item means on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Level follows the key stated in Chapter 3 (3.41 to 4.20 = high). Standard errors of skewness and kurtosis were 0.14 and 0.28.
The text that accompanies them stays short and selective: “Table 1 summarizes the sample. Most participants were women (n = 189, 60.6%), and 38.5% had taught for more than 10 years. As Table 2 shows, teachers reported high levels on all four scales; transformational leadership had the highest mean (M = 3.71, SD = 0.66) and organizational trust the lowest and most dispersed (M = 3.48, SD = 0.79). Skewness and kurtosis values were within ±1 for all variables, supporting the use of parametric tests reported in Section 4.4.” Nothing in the paragraph repeats a full row of the table; it points, compares and prepares the reader for the next step.
For a variable with a visibly skewed distribution, such as weekly overtime hours, the same paragraph would read: “Overtime was positively skewed (skewness = 1.92), so the median is reported (Mdn = 4.0 hours, IQR = 2.0 to 7.5).”
How do you report descriptive statistics in APA style next to inferential results?
Every inferential sentence carries its own descriptives, because a t value without the two means says nothing about direction or size: “Women (M = 3.49, SD = 0.64) reported higher burnout than men (M = 3.21, SD = 0.78), t(274.8) = 3.35, p = .001, d = 0.39.” For correlations and regressions, one table combining M, SD and the correlation matrix is standard. The Journal Article Reporting Standards (APA JARS) list descriptive statistics for each variable and group as a required element of any quantitative report.
Which mistakes do examiners mark most often?
- SPSS output pasted directly, with gridlines and six decimals.
- Means and standard deviations for nominal variables such as gender or faculty.
- Percentages without the counts they were computed from, or percentages that do not sum to 100 because missing cases were not explained.
- A paragraph that reads the table aloud, number by number, instead of highlighting the pattern.
- An interpretation key copied from a thesis that used a different scale.
- Tables referred to as “above” or “below”, or not referred to at all.
- Inconsistent decimals within one column, or p = 0.000 in a note.
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Frequently asked questions
Should I report the mean or the median for Likert-scale data?
For a score averaged from several items, report the mean and standard deviation, and add skewness and kurtosis so the reader can judge the shape. For a single Likert item, the median and the percentage in each category are more defensible, because a single item is ordinal.
How many decimal places does APA want for means and standard deviations?
Two, in most cases. APA 7 asks you to round to the precision the measurement supports, and a score from 1 to 5 does not justify more. Percentages take one decimal in tables, and *p* values take two or three.
Do I need a separate table for every scale and its items?
Not in the main text. One table with one row per scale or subscale is enough for the results chapter. Item-level descriptives belong in an appendix unless your program requires them, in which case present one table per scale with items ranked by mean.
Where do descriptive statistics go: methodology or results chapter?
The sample profile usually opens the results chapter, although some faculties place it at the end of the methodology under “participants”. Descriptives of the study variables belong in the results chapter, before the inferential tests, because the tests are interpreted against them.
Can I report the standard error instead of the standard deviation?
Report the standard deviation; it describes the spread of the data, which is what a descriptive table is for. The standard error describes the precision of the mean and belongs with confidence intervals or error bars, clearly labeled so that it is not mistaken for *SD*.
Sources
- American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://apastyle.apa.org/
- American Psychological Association. Table setup and Sample tables, APA Style guidelines. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures
- American Psychological Association. Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS): Quantitative. https://apastyle.apa.org/jars/quantitative
- Field, A. (2018). Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics (5th ed.). SAGE.
- Pallant, J. (2020). SPSS Survival Manual (7th ed.). Open University Press.
- Norman, G. (2010). Likert scales, levels of measurement and the “laws” of statistics. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 15(5), 625–632.
- IBM. IBM SPSS Statistics documentation: Frequencies, Descriptives and Explore procedures. https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spss-statistics
Sources last checked: November 2026. This article is general educational guidance and does not replace your university regulations or your supervisor’s instructions. How we prepare our content.