Measures Of Tendency

Question 1

Mean, definition and (+) and (-)

Answer 1

Add all and divide by how many
+ uses all data
- only used with interval/ ratio
- affected by an anomaly

Question 2

Median definition and (+) and (-)

Answer 2

Select middle value 
\+ good with ordinal data
\+ relatively unaffected by outliers 
- not good with small data sets 
- produces different averages when 1 figure in set changes

Question 3

Mode definition and (+) and (-)

Answer 3

Most common value 
\+ useful for categorised values 
- not widely used in psychological research 
- small changes= big effect 
- might not be a repeated value

Question 4

Range definition and (+) and (-)

Answer 4

Difference between highest and lowest no.s/ measures dispersion
+ easy to calculate
- not distribution around central value and highly impacted by outliers

Question 5

Standard deviation definition and (+) and (-)

Answer 5

Measure of suspension, spread around the man
+ more sensitive- all scores
- may hide characteristics eg extreme values