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7.1 Measures of Central Tendency

The document discusses measures of central tendency including the mean, median, and mode. It provides formulas for calculating the mean and explains how to find the median and mode. The mean is the average value found by summing all values and dividing by the total number of values. The median is the middle value when values are arranged from lowest to highest. The mode is the most frequent value. The mean is impacted by outliers while the median is less affected by outliers. The best measure depends on the data set's characteristics.

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Dave Matthew Libiran
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236 views6 pages

7.1 Measures of Central Tendency

The document discusses measures of central tendency including the mean, median, and mode. It provides formulas for calculating the mean and explains how to find the median and mode. The mean is the average value found by summing all values and dividing by the total number of values. The median is the middle value when values are arranged from lowest to highest. The mode is the most frequent value. The mean is impacted by outliers while the median is less affected by outliers. The best measure depends on the data set's characteristics.

Uploaded by

Dave Matthew Libiran
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Republic of the Philippines

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY


College of Teacher Education
Bayambang, Pangasinan

Name: Dave Matthew B. Libiran


Course: BEE EGE
Subject: PROF ED 106 – Assessment in Learning 1
Professor: Sir Paul Anthony C. Pamo

Topic: The Measures of Central Tendency

I. Introduction

A measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a set of data
by identifying the central position within that set of data. As such, measures of central
tendency are sometimes called measures of central location. They are also classed as
summary statistics. The mean (often called the average) is most likely the measure of central
tendency that you are most familiar with, but there are others, such as the median and the
mode.

II. Body

MEAN (ARITHMETIC)
The mean (or average) is the most popular and well-known measure of central
tendency. It can be used with both discrete and continuous data, although its use is most often
with continuous data. The mean is equal to the sum of all the values in the data set divided by
the number of values in the data set. So, if we have values in a data set and they have
values the sample mean, usually denoted by ― (pronounced "x bar"), is:
This formula is usually written in a slightly different manner using the Greek capitol
letter pronounced "sigma", which means "sum of...":

You may have noticed that the above formula refers to the sample mean. So, why
have we called it a sample mean? This is because, in statistics, samples and populations have
very different meanings and these differences are very important, even if, in the case of the
mean, they are calculated in the same way. To acknowledge that we are calculating the
population mean and not the sample mean, we use the Greek lower case letter "mu", denoted
as :

The mean is essentially a model of your data set. It is the value that is most common.
You will notice, however, that the mean is not often one of the actual values that you have
observed in your data set.

When not to use mean?


The mean has one main disadvantage: it is particularly susceptible to the influence of
outliers. These are values that are unusual compared to the rest of the data set by being
especially small or large in numerical value. For example, consider the scores of 10 Grade 12
students in a 100-item Statistics test below:
The mean score for these ten Grade 12 students is 62.1 However, inspecting the raw
data suggests that this mean score may not be the best way to accurately reflect the score of
the typical Grade 12 student., as most students have scores in the 5 to 95 range. The mean is
being skewed by the extremely low and extremely high scores.
MEDIAN
The median is the middle score for a set of scores arranged from lowest to highest.
The mean is less affected by extremely low and extremely high scores. In order to calculate
the median, suppose we have the data below:

We first need to rearrange that data into order of magnitude (smallest first):

Our median mark is the middle mark - in this case, 56 (highlighted in bold). It is the middle
mark because there are 5 scores before it and 5 scores after it. This works fine when you have
an odd number of scores, but what happens when you have an even number of scores?

We again rearrange that data into order of magnitude (smallest first):

Only now we have to take the 5th and 6th score in our data set and average them to get a
median of 55.5.

MODE
The mode is the most frequent score in our data set. On a histogram or bar chart it
represents the highest bar. If is a score of the number of times an option is chosen in a
multiple-choice test You can, therefore, sometimes consider the mode as being the most
popular option. Study the score distribution given below:

There are two most frequent scores 55 and 56. So we have a score distribution with two
modes, hence a bimodal distribution. The problem with the mode is that it will not provide us
with a very good measure of central tendency when the most common mark is far away from
the rest of the data in the data set.

III. Conclusion
Finally, measures of central tendency are summary statistics that aim to characterize a
set of data by locating the center position within that set of data. The mean, median, and
mode are the most commonly used measures of central tendency. The mean is the most often
used measure of central tendency, although it is especially vulnerable to the influence of
outliers. The median is the middle score for a group of scores listed from lowest to highest
and is less affected by outliers. The mode is the most common score in a set of data.

IV. Activity

Suppose you have the following data set representing the ages of a group of people:
{18, 20, 22, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55}
1. Calculate the mean, median, and mode of the data set.
2. Suppose a new person joins the group and their age is 60. How does this affect the
mean, median, and mode?
3. Suppose another new person joins the group and their age is 18. How does this affect
the mean, median, and mode?

V. Quiz (10 items)

1. What is a measure of central tendency?


a. A measure of how spread out a data set is
b. A single value that attempts to describe a set of data by identifying the central
position within that set of data
c. A measure of how many data points are in a data set
d. A measure of how many outliers are in a data set
2. What is the most popular measure of central tendency?
a. Mean
b. Median
c. Mode
d. Range

3. What is the formula for calculating the mean?


a. Median / Mode
b. Sum of all values / Number of values
c. Largest value - Smallest value
d. None of the above
4. What is the main disadvantage of using the mean as a measure of central tendency?
a. It is difficult to calculate
b. It is not accurate
c. It is particularly susceptible to the influence of outliers
d. It is not applicable to continuous data
5. What is the median?
a. The most frequent score in a data set
b. The middle score for a set of scores arranged from lowest to highest
c. The value that is most common in a data set
d. None of the above
6. How is the median calculated?
a. By finding the most frequent score in a data set
b. By adding up all the values in a data set and dividing by the number of values
c. By arranging the values in order from lowest to highest and finding the middle
value
d. None of the above
7. What is the advantage of using the median over the mean?
a. It is easier to calculate
b. It is more accurate
c. It is less affected by outliers
d. It is applicable to both discrete and continuous data
8. What is the mode?
a. The most frequent score in a data set
b. The middle score for a set of scores arranged from lowest to highest
c. The value that is most common in a data set
d. None of the above

9. When is the mode not a good measure of central tendency?


a. When the data set is evenly distributed
b. When the data set has extreme values
c. When the data set is small
d. When the data set is continuous
10. Which measure of central tendency best represents a data set depends on:
a. The size of the data set
b. The type of data in the data set
c. The distribution of the data in the data set
d. All of the above

VI. References
Mean, Mode and Median - Measures of Central Tendency - When to use with Different

Types of Variable and Skewed Distributions | Laerd Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://statistics.laerd.com/statistical-guides/measures-central-tendency-mean-mode-

median.php

Studocu. (n.d.). Measures OF Central Tendency AND Dispersion and Variability -

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING 1 CHAPTER 7: - Studocu. Retrieved from

https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/bukidnon-state-university/general-

education/measures-of-central-tendency-and-dispersion-and-variability/40854787?

origin=home-recent-3

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