Transforming To Normality
It is not always necessary or desirable to transform a data set to resemble a normal distribution. However if symmetry or normality are desired, they can often be induced through one of the power transformations.
To assess whether normality has been achieved, a graphical approach is usually more informative than a formal statistical test. A normal quantile plot is commonly used to assess the fit of a data set to a normal population. Alternatively, rules of thumb based on the sample skewness and kurtosis have also been proposed, such as having skewness in the range of −0.8 to 0.8 and kurtosis in the range of −3.0 to 3.0.
Read more about this topic: Data Transformation (statistics)
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