2.5.2 Descriptive statistics Flashcards
how do you calculate the mean?
adding all the values and dividing by the no. of values
what is a strength of using the mean?
most powerful measure of central tendancy - uses all data
what is a weakness of using the mean?
skewed easily by extreme values
what is it important to check for with the mean?
extreme values
what is the median?
the middle value when data is ranked in order
what are strengths of using the median?
not affected by extreme scores
easy and quick
what are weaknesses of using the median?
less powerful - doesn’t use all data
what is the mode?
most occurring value
what does bimodal mean?
more than one mode
what are strengths of the mode?
provides some info about data
easiest to calculate
not affected by extreme values
what are weaknesses of the mode?
least powerful
not always possible to use
what is the range?
subtract smallest value from biggest
what is a strength of the range?
easy to calculate
what is a weakness of the range?
affected by extreme values
what is standard deviation?
measure of dispersion
tells us how spread out the scores are around the mean
