Chapter 4

Numerical Descriptive
Measures of Data
Quantitative Techniques
REM250

Dr. Nurul Afiqah Ahmad

Prepared by Dr. Junainah Mohamad

 Course Outcomes

• Comprehend the nature and purpose of statistical

data.

• Calculate and interpret the data by using

quantitative techniques.

• Prepare statistical analysis report for various

purposes.
 Learning Outcomes
• Understand mean, median, and mode as measure of
central tedency

• Calculate mean, median, and mode for grouped and

ungrouped of data

• Explain and use the properties of mean, median,

and mode

• Draw box-and-whisker plots to view the distribution

of data

• Calculate the first quartile (Q1) and third quartile

(Q3) of data distribution
 Outline
1.0 Measures of Central Tendency

2.0 Measures of Central Tendency for Ungrouped Data

3.0 Measures of Position for Ungrouped Data

4.0 Measures of Central Tendency for Grouped Data

5.0 Skewness

6.0 Measures of Position for Grouped Data

1.0 Measures of Central
Tendency
MEAN

• Computed by taking sum of all data values, divided by the

number of data

• Commonly used, reflect the average score for whole dataset

MEDIAN

• The value that lies in the centre of the data

• To determine the median, has to arrange the data in

ascending or descending order and select the central value of
the data

MODE

• The value that occurs most frequently

 2.0 Measures of Central
Tendency for Ungrouped Data
• Mean (Arithmetic Mean)

- Is a average of a group of data

- Calculated by summing up all the observations in the data

set and the dividing it by the number of data
å X X1+ X2 + X3 +..... + X N
a)Population mean = m = =
N N
b)Sample mean = X- = Sx = x1 + x2 + x3 +........ + xn
n n
Where N = number of elements in the population, and

n = number of elements in the sample

 Example 1

• A company has five departments. The number of

workers in five departments are 24, 13,26,19 and 11
respectively. What is the mean number of workers in
a department?
 2.0 Measures of Central
Tendency for Ungrouped Data
• Median

- Middle value of an ordered array of data

- If there is an odd number of observations in the data that is

arranged in ascending or descending order, the median is the
middle value of the data

- If there is an even number of observations in the data, the

median is the average of the two middle numbers
 Example 2

• Determine the median for the following data

11, 14, 3, 21, 17, 22, 16, 19, 16, 5, 7, 19, 8, 9, 20, 4, 15

• Find the median for the following data

11, 14, 3, 21, 17, 16, 19, 16, 5, 7, 19, 8, 9, 20, 4, 15

Finding median in a large number of observation

- If there are large number of observations, the median is

determined by computing the term in an ordered array.

- For example; 77 data, the median is the 39th term as shown

below.

Location of median = n +1 = 77 +1 = 39
2 2
 Example 3

• A real estate broker intends to determine the median

selling price of 10 houses listed below

67,000 105,000 148,000 5,250,000 91,000 116,000

167,000 95,000 122,000 189,000
 2.0 Measures of Central
Tendency for Ungrouped Data
• Mode

- Mode is the value that occurs most frequently in a set of data

- Located by arranging the data in ascending or descending

order
 3.0 Measures of Position for
Ungrouped Data
• Box-and-whisker Plot

- Provided a useful graphical representation of data using

minimum (Xmin), maximum (Xmax), first quartile (Q1), third
quartile (Q3) and median, as present below;
Upper extreme
Lower extreme

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Median
First quartile Third quartile
 3.0 Measures of Position for
Ungrouped Data
• Box-and-whisker Plot (cont’t)

- Vertical line in the box represents the location of the median

value of the data set

- Vertical line on the left-hand side of the box represents the

location of the first quartile (Q1)

- Vertical line on the right-hand side of the box represents the

location of third quartile (Q3)

- The extreme end of line (a whisker) connecting; left-hand

side of the box is the smallest value (Xmin) and right-hand side
of the box is the largest value (Xmax)
 3.0 Measures of Position for
Ungrouped Data
• Box-and-whisker Plot (cont’t)

- Types of distribution for box-and-whisker plot

- Bell-shaped distribution (normally distributed data)
- Distribution skewed to the left
- Distribution skewed to right
- Rectangular distribution
- U-shaped distribution
 3.0 Measures of Position for
Ungrouped Data
• Quartiles
- Widely used measures of non-central location
- Used to describe positional of large sets of numerical data
- Median is the middle value that splits the ordered numbers into
half (50% of the observations are smaller and 50% are large than
median)
- Are descriptive measures that split the ordered data into quarters
 3.0 Measures of Position for
Ungrouped Data
• First Quartiles (Q1)

- Positional value where 25% of the observations are smaller

and 75% are larger.
n +1
- Formula = 1 Q =
4
• Third Quartiles (Q3)

- Positional value where 75% of the observations are smaller

and 25% are larger
3(n +1)
- Formula = Q3 =
4
-
 Example 4

The three years of annual returned of 14 low-risks

funds arranged in ascending order are given as follows;

9.77 11.35 12.46 13.80 15.47 17.48 18.37 18.47

18.61 20.72 21.49 22.47 31.50 38.16

Find the first and third quartiles.

 4.0 Measures of Central
Tendency for Grouped Data
• Mean

- For grouped data, each class interval is represented by the

mid-point of the interval, xi. The mean is calculated as
-
Sfxi
mean, x =
Sf
 Example 5
Table below shows the years of working experience for 120
employee of Jimmy’s company.

Calculate the mean and explain its meaning.

Years of Experience Number of Employees
1-4 16
5-8 20
9-12 28
13-16 24
17-20 16
21-24 11
25-28 5
Total 120
 4.0 Measures of Central
Tendency for Grouped Data
• Median

- Create a column for the cumulative frequency and determine

the position of median in the distribution

- Once the median interval is determined, median is calculated

as;
én ù
ê 2 - Sfm-1 ú
median = L m + ê ú´ c
ê fm ú
ë û
 Example 6
Using data provided from Example 5, compute the
median of employees’ years of working experience
Years of Number of Cumulative Position of Data
Experience Employees Frequency

1-4 16 16 1-16
5-8 20 36 17-36
9-12 28 64 37-64
13-16 24 88 65-88
17-20 16 104 89-104
21-24 11 115 105-115
25-28 5 120 116-120
Total 120
 4.0 Measures of Central
Tendency for Grouped Data
• Mode

- For grouped frequency distribution with continuous variables,

mode can be estimated using a histogram

- Steps
a) Draw a histogram
b) Class with the highest frequency called modal class
c) Two lines are drawn at the top of the column
d) The point of the intersection between two lines, a vertical line is
drawn
 4.0 Measures of Central
Tendency for Grouped Data
• Mode (con’t)

- Mode also can be calculated as

é f0 - f1 ù
mode = L + ê ú´ c
ë ( f0 - f1 ) + ( f0 - f2 ) û
 Example 7

Using data provided from Example 5, compute the

mode of employees’ years of working experience
 5.0 Skewness
• Skewness measures the lack of symmetry in data distribution

• The skewed portion is the long and thin part of the curve

• Skewed distribution means data are sparse at one end of the

distribution but dense at the other end

• The value of skewness falls between -3.0 and 3.0

• Skewness value -3.0 – distribution is extremely skewed to the

left

• Skewness value 3.0 – distribution is extremely skewed to the

right

• Skewness value 0.0 – perfectly symmetry

 5.0 Skewness
Skewness in relation to Mean, Median and Mode

•The concept of skewness helps us understand the relation

between mean, median and mode

•Mode – highest point

•Median – middle value

•Mean – located somewhere towards the tail of the distribution

curve because mean is affected by all values, including extreme
ones

•A bell-shaped or normal distribution curve has no skewness

(mean, median, mode all located at the centre of the distribution)
 5.0 Skewness
a) Mean > median > mode (positively-skewed/skewed
to the right)
 5.0 Skewness
b) Mean = median = mode (distribution is
symmetrical/evenly distributed/ mean, median, mode
are equal in value)
 5.0 Skewness
c) Mean < median < mode (negatively-skewed/ skewed
to the left)
 6.0 Measures of Position for
Grouped Data
First (Q1) and Third (Q3) Quartiles

• STEP 1

Obtain cumulative frequency

• STEP 2

Identify the first and third quartile classes using the following
formula;
n n
Q1 = Q3 = 3
4 4
 6.0 Measures of Position for
Grouped Data
First (Q1) and Third (Q3) Quartiles (con’t)

•STEP 3

Find the first and third quartile

én ù é 3(n) ù
ê 4 - F1 ú ê 4 - F3 ú
Q1 = L1 + ê ú ´ c1 Q3 = L3 + ê ú ´ c3
ê f1 ú ê f3 ú
ë û ë û
 Example
Below shows the distribution of test scores obtained by
42 students in a Statistics class. Calculate Q1 and (Q3).
Scores obtained Number of Cumulative
students Frequency
80-90 1
90-100 2
100-110 5
110-120 10
120-130 15
130-140 7
140-150 2
Total