Chapter 3 Measures of Central Tendency

Three measures:  Mode: The most common score.  Median: The score of the middle case.  Mean: The average score.

Mode  The most common score.  Can be used with variables at all three levels of measurement.  Most often used with nominal level variables.

Finding the Mode 1.Count the number of times each score occurred. 2.The score that occurs most often is the mode. If the variable is presented in a frequency distribution, the mode is the largest category. If the variable is presented in a line chart, the mode is the highest peak.

Finding the Mode “People should live together before marriage.” Freq.% Agree Neutral Disagree

Median  The score of the middle case.  Can be used with variables measured at the ordinal or interval-ratio levels.  Cannot be used for nominal-level variables.

Finding the Median 1.Array the cases from high to low. 2.Locate the middle case. If N is odd: the median is the score of the middle case. If N is even: the median is the average of the scores of the two middle cases.

Finding the Median Robbery Rate for 7 Cities Atlanta Chicago668.0 Dallas582.8 San Francisco444.9 Los Angeles420.2 Boston416.0 New York406.6

Finding the Median  How would the median change if we added an 8th case? San Diego had a robbery rate of  There are now two middle cases, so the median is the average of the scores of the two middle cases: ( )/2 =

Mean  The average score.  Requires variables measured at the interval-ratio level.  Cannot be used for nominal or ordinal-level variables.

Finding the Mean  The mean or arithmetic average, is by far the most commonly used measure of central tendency.  The mean reports the average score of a distribution.  The calculation is straightforward: add the scores and then divide by the number of scores (N ).

Finding the Mean Robbery Rate for 7 Cities Atlanta Chicago668.0 Dallas582.8 San Francisco444.9 Los Angeles420.2 Boston416.0 New York406.6 Total4121.6

Finding the Mean  The mean is /8 =  These cities averaged robberies per 100,000 population.

Every Score in the Distribution Affects the Mean  Strength - The mean uses all the available information from the variable.  Weaknesses The mean is affected by every score. If there are some very high or low scores, the mean may be misleading.

Finding the Mean % Of Children Not Covered by Health Insurance Maryland 9.8 Maine 9.5 Iowa 8.7 New Jersey 9.3 Texas21.5 Total58.8

Finding the Mean  4 of 5 states have very similar scores but Texas is much higher.  The mean = 58.8/5 =  4 of the 5 states have scores between 8.7 and 9.8, lower than  Is a useful summary of central tendency for these states?

Means, Medians, and Skew  When a distribution has a few very high or low scores, the mean will be pulled in the direction of the extreme scores. For a positive skew, the mean will be greater than the median. For a negative skew, the mean will be less than the median.

Means, Medians, and Skew  When an interval-ratio variable has a pronounced skew, the median may be the more trustworthy measure of central tendency.