5
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Summary
The present sample consisted of 4,108 online respondents; 65.1% of respondents
identified as female, 34.1% as male, and .7% as other. Participant age ranged from 13-78 years
(M=25.41, SD=11.37). Information about writing hand was also collected with 86.7% of
participants reportedly using their right hand, 10.4% left hand, and 2.6% using both hands.
Total scores on the Grit Scale had a mean of 3.23 and a standard deviation of .72 for this
sample. The skewness and kurtosis values of -.26 and -.02, respectively, indicate an approximate
normal distribution as shown in Figure 4. The current sample is not an accurate representation of
the general population as the majority of respondents were female. Additionally, since this was
an online survey, lower socio-economic participants who are unable to afford a computer or an
internet connection may have been left out of the sample. Online surveys are more convenient
and cost effective than in-person interviews and they also allow researchers to reach a more
diverse sample than local sampling could provide. This form of data collection can, however, be
a source of sampling bias because of the self-selection aspect of volunteering for the study. The
age of the majority of respondents was also an indication that the technological aspect of online
surveying lends itself to a younger demographic.
