Research methods- Descriptive statistics (Mean, Median...)

Question 1

What are the measures of central tendency?

Answer 1

-Mean
-Mode
-Median

Question 2

What are the measures of dispersion?

Answer 2

-Range
-Standard deviation

Question 3

What is the mean and how do you calculate it?

Answer 3

Mean is an interval level of measurement and is universal -equal units (e.g. weight).
Add up all the data collected and divide that by the amount of data given, e.g. 4+5+6+7+8=30 30/5= 6, so the mean is 6.

Question 4

What is a strength and limitation for the mean?

Answer 4

S- The most powerful measure of central tendency as it uses all the data.
L-One rogue score (large or small) can heavily influence it.

Question 5

What is the median and how do you calculate it?

Answer 5

Median is an ordinal level of measurement and is ranked (meaning not equal units).
Find the middle number in a data set, e.g. 4,5,6,7,8 and the median is 6 or 4,5,6,7,8,9 and the median is 6.5 as it is an even number of data.

Question 6

What is a strength and limitation for the median?

Answer 6

S- Not influenced by extreme scores.
L- Not good with using small data sets.

Question 7

What is the mode and how do you calculate it?

Answer 7

Mode is a nominal level of measurement and is used in categories.
It is the most repeated number in a data set, e.g. 4,5,6,6,8, and the mode would be 6.

Question 8

What is a strength and limitation for mode?

Answer 8

S- The best measurement if you want to know how often things occur.
L- Sometimes a data set does not have a common value and sometimes it has lots of common values.

Question 9

What is a strength and limitation for standard deviation?

Answer 9

Standard deviation is the spread of the data around a mean, e.g. 16.9 compared to 8.2 means that it has more varied scores so it is inconsistent.
S- Uses every value in the data set, not heavily distorted by extreme values and is the most sensitive.
L- The most difficult of the measures of dispersion to calculate.

Question 10

What is a strength and limitation for range?

Answer 10

Range is the difference between the highest and lowest data collected, e.g. 2,3,4,5,6 the range between 2 and 6 is 4, meaning the range is 4.
S- Takes all of the data into account and is simple to calculate.
L- If either of the two scores are extreme, this will be distorted. It tells us little about how spread out or clustered together the range are.