Percentage: what it means and how to read it

In the report: Percentage — The share of the rows in the range, empty answers included; rows with "." (not applicable) are left out.

How to read it

The share among everybody the question applied to, including those who did not answer — SPSS calls it Percent. To describe the answers themselves, use Valid Percentage.

In plain words

A teacher asked 50 students how they get to school. For 5 of them the question did not apply, 9 left it blank and 18 chose the bus. She wanted to say how many chose the bus. Percentage counts everybody the question was meant for, blanks included, and leaves out the 5 it did not apply to. So 18 out of 45 gave her 40 percent. Now she can say that 40 percent of the students the question was meant for chose the bus. To talk only about those who answered, she uses Valid Percentage instead.

How it is computed

Amount / (all rows − not applicable) · 100, rounded to 2 decimals

Example

The cell with Percentage is selected in each report; point at a label to see its note.

— the sample data (50 rows) the examples use
— ranges: [1,3), [3,6), [6,11) =STATS_FREQUENCIES(Data!A1:T51, "/q/", "good:1:3,normal:3:6,bad:6:11")

Where you see it

STATS_FREQUENCIES — Calculates frequencies for chosen columns.

Valid percentage — The share among the valid answers: missing and not applicable are left out, and _other too when the labels are closed.
Not applicable — Cells with "." — the question did not apply to the respondent; they are kept apart from missing answers.
Adjusted residuals — With details = TRUE: the adjusted standardized residual of each cell (SPSS "Adjusted Residual"): how far the count is from the one expected if the two columns were independent, in standard errors. Empty when there is one row or one column.
Chi-Square Tests — With details = TRUE: the tests of the table as in SPSS CROSSTABS /STATISTICS=CHISQ, at the very end of the report. Pearson Chi-Square, Likelihood Ratio and N of Valid Cases are always there; Continuity Correction and Fisher's Exact Test only for a 2 × 2 table; Linear-by-Linear Association only when both columns have codes (numbers, or labels with numbers).
Symmetric Measures — With details = TRUE: the strength of the relation, Phi and Cramér's V, as in SPSS CROSSTABS /STATISTICS=PHI. Follows the Chi-Square Tests table.

Get it in your sheet

One formula in a cell gives the whole report, Percentage included. ALS Stats is a free add-on for Google Sheets™.

Install ALS Stats from Google Workspace Marketplace (opens in a new tab)