Distributions

Question 1

What is a normal distribution?

Answer 1

• Form a bell shaped curve and be symmetrical, within a normal distribution most people/items are in the middle
• mean median and mode all occupy the same midpoint of the curve
• ‘tails’ of the curve, never touch the x-axis so never hit zero as more extreme scores are always possible

Question 2

What are skewed distributions?

Answer 2

Positive Skew:
- most of distribution is concentrated towards the left of the graph (long tail on the right)
- mode remains at the highest point of the peak, then the median, then mean dragged towards the tail)
Negative Skew:
- bulk of scores concentrated to the right, long tail of anomalous score on the left.
- mean is pulled to the left (lower score in minority), mode at the highest peak and median in the middle.