measures of central tendency and graphs Flashcards
mean weakness
one rogue score (large or small) can heavily influence it
mean strength
the most powerful measure of central tendency as it uses all of the data
mode strength
the best measurement if you want to know how often things occur
mode weakness
sometimes a data set does not have a common value and sometimes it has a lot
median strength
not influenced by extreme scores
median weakness
not good with using small data sets
standard deviation strength
uses very value in the Data set,
not heavily distorted by extreme values and is the most sensitive
standard deviation weakness
the most difficult of the measures of dispersion to calculate
range strength
takes all of the data into account and is simple to calculate
range weakness
if either of the 2 scores are extreme, this will be distorted. it tell us little about how spread out or clustered together the data are
how to work out median
the middle number after ordering from smallest to biggest
what is standard deviation
the spread of results around the mean (- a measure of dispersion)
what does it mean if the standard deviation is more than the mean
its more varied
inconsistent
what does it mean if the standard deviation is less than the mean
less varied
more consistent
bar chart
the height of each bar represents the frequency
suitable for non-continuous data - space between bar = lack of continuity
use with categories