Descriptive statistics

[Beri Parfait]

Dear Stata Users,

Which is preferred or advisable, especially in article writing? To run descriptive statistics with log-transformed data or with raw data (as collected from the source)?

[Nick Cox]

Depends on the variable. The examples of pH, decibels and Richter scale show that in some case logarithmic scale may be standard already. If data deserve or require logarithmic transformation, it may still be true that summaries that make sense on either scale are preferable, so that the geometric mean is exp(mean(log()) and (very small print aside) median of logarithms = logarithm of median.

Your best role models are good articles in good journals in your field.