Research Method: Quantitive Data Flashcards
What are the measures of central tendency?
Mean, median, mode
What is the strength of working out the mean of data?
+Uses all the data in the final calculation making it more valid.
What is a weakness of using mean?
-Affected by extreme values.
What is a strength of using median?
+Not affected by extreme scores.
What is a weakness of using median?
-Not all values are reflected in final calculation.
What is a strength of using mode?
+Useful when data is in categories (nominal).
What is a weakness of using mode?
-Not a useful way of describing days when there are several groups with the same mode.
How do you calculate the mean?
Add up all the values and divide by the number of values.
How do you measure the median?
Place all values in order and select the middle value.
How do you calculate the mode?
Identify the group with the highest of the same value.
What are measures of dispersion?
What do they show?
Range and standard deviation.
The spread of data.
How do you work out the range?
Arrange data in highest to lowest and subtract the lowest from the highest.
What is an advantage of measuring range?
+Convenient and easy way to measure how spread out the data is.
What is a disadvantage of measuring the range?
-Affected by extreme values.
What is an advantage of using standard deviation?
-Precise measure of dispersion that takes into account all values.
