Data Analysis: Descriptive Statistics Flashcards
What is central tendency?
Calculating the mean, median or mode
What is the mean?
Arithmetic average
Strength of the mean:
Sensitive, includes all the data giving an overall impression
Limitation of the mean:
Unrepresentative = very large or small can distort figure more easily than median or mode
What is the median?
Middle value
How do you calculate the mean?
Add up all the scores and divide by the number of scores
How do you calculate the median?
Place scores in ascending order and select middle value. (Two value in the middle, take the mean of these is calculated)
Strength of the median:
Unaffected by extreme scores = more representative
Limitation of the median:
Less sensitive, exclude extreme values which may be important
What is the mode?
Most frequent value, used with categorical or nominal data
How do you calculate the mode?
Count the most frequent values
Strengths of the mode:
Relevant to categorical data = discrete data
Limitations of the mode:
Overly simple measure = not useful at describing data
What is the measures of dispersion?
Range and standard deviation
What is a range?
The difference between highest and lowest value
