Descriptive Statistics

Question 1

What is the Median?

Answer 1

• central score in a list of ranked ordered scores
• not distorted by extreme scores
• less likely to be biased
• less sensitive than the mean as it only represents the middle of the data set

Question 2

What is the Range?

Answer 2

• shows the spread of the scores in any data set by subtracting the smallest score from the largest
• very easy to calculate
• less sensitive than the standard deviation as it does not use all the scores
• easily distorted by extreme scores

Question 3

What is the Mode?

Answer 3

• most common or frequently occurring score
• not distorted by extreme scores
• less likely to be biased
• less sensitive than the mean as it only represents the most frequently occurring score
• not appropriate for small data sets

Question 4

What is the Mean?

Answer 4

• arithmetic average
• most sensitive measure as it is the only measure which is representative of all the scores in the data set
• can give peculiar outcomes that don’t represent reality
• easily distorted by extreme scores

Question 5

What is Standard Deviation?

Answer 5

• shows the spread of scores in any data set by calculating their average distance from the mean
• most precise measure as it is the only one to use all the scores
• difficult to calculate