1.11 Research Methods - Descriptive Stats. Tendancy And Dispersion

Question 1

Mean

Answer 1

The average calculated by adding the scores and dividing them by how many there are.

Question 2

Strengths of mean

Answer 2

• More representative of the data as a whole as all results considered

Question 3

Limitations of mean

Answer 3

• Easily distorted by extreme values e.g. if most scores are between 1 and 5 and one score is 18, it will distort results greatly

Question 4

Median

Answer 4

The middle value, scores are lined up from smallest to highest and the middle score is chosen from that

Question 5

Strengths of Median

Answer 5

• Not impacted by extreme values

- Easy to calculate

Question 6

Limitations of Median

Answer 6

• Less sensitive, not all values considered

- Less representative

Question 7

Mode

Answer 7

The score with the highest frequency

Question 8

Strengths of mode:

Answer 8

• Easy to calculate

- Identifies the most common result

Question 9

Limitations of mode

Answer 9

• Can be completely different to the average

- Not representative

Question 10

Range

Answer 10

Calculation to measure the spread of scores, the highest value - the lowest value

Question 11

Strengths of range

Answer 11

• Easy to calculate

Question 12

Limitations of range

Answer 12

• Only takes into account the 2 most extreme values

- Unrepresentative

Question 13

Standard Deviation

Answer 13

Single value highlighting how results deviate from the mean. The higher the SD score, the lower the chance that the IV caused the DV and higher likelihood of anomalous results

Question 14

Strengths of Standard Deviation

Answer 14

• Most sophisticated

- Highly representative

Question 15

Limitations of Standard Deviation

Answer 15

• Can be distorted by extreme values

- Hard to calculate