measures of central tendency

Question 1

measures of central tendency

Answer 1

any measure of the average value in a set of data

Question 2

mean

Answer 2

involves adding up all the values in a set of data and dividing by the number of values there are

Question 3

median

Answer 3

the central value in a set of data when values are arranged from lowest to highest

Question 4

mode

Answer 4

the most frequently occurring value in a set of data

Question 5

mean- strengths

Answer 5

most sensitive measure of central tendency, includes all values in data set within calculation. more representative of data as a whole.

Question 6

mean- weaknesses

Answer 6

easily distorted by extreme values so can become unrepresentative.

Question 7

median- strengths

Answer 7

extreme scores don’t affect it. easy to calculate.

Question 8

median- weaknesses

Answer 8

less sensitive than mean, not all scores included in final calculation.

Question 9

mode- strengths

Answer 9

easy to calculate. can be only usable method, e.g. data in categories.

Question 10

mode- weaknesses

Answer 10

crude measure. less representative of data as a whole.