Mode

The most common value in a distribution

The mode is the most commonly occurring or prevalent observation in a given continuous distribution. It is possible to have more than one mode in a distribution. A distribution with two modes is called bimodal. If a distribution of continuous values appears to be bimodal, there is a good chance that two separate or independent groups exist in the population. A distribution with three or more modes is called multimodal. Modes are often used to describe categorical variables, in the form of a frequency.     

The steps for calculating a mode in SPSS

1. The values for an outcome or variable are entered into a column of a database.

2. Click Analyze.

3. Drag the cursor over the Descriptive Statistics drop-down menu.

4. Click on Frequencies.

5. Click on the outcome or variable to highlight it.


6. Click on the arrow to move the outcome or variable into the Variable(s): box.

7. Click on the Statistics button.

8. In the Central Tendency table, click on the Mode box to select it.

9. Click Continue.

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10. Click OK. ​

The steps for interpreting the mode output in SPSS

1. Look in the Statistics table, where the Mode​ is presented. This is the mode value that is interpreted.
Click on a button below to continue.