1 Module 2 | Descriptive Analysis

MODULE 2: DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

This module will introduce the meaningful concepts of central tendency and variability. Finding the
average grade of students, the average daily sales of a department store, or the average salary per month of
employees in a company are common procedures that we do occasionally. Without us knowing it, we have
been doing statistical tasks at different times. Although the average scores in distribution is important in
many research contexts so is another set of statistics that quantify how variable (or how dispersed) the
scores tend to be. This also aims to know about the measures of variability that will tell you how the values
are scattered or clustered about the typical value. It is quite possible to have two sets of observations with
the same mean or median that differs in the amount of spread about the mean.

The module is divided into two lessons, namely:

Lesson 1 (Measures of Central Tendency). The point which the scores tend to be cluster. It is
important for initial data analysis and we can use it to make more concise data.
Lesson 2 (Measures of Variability). The importance of variability is to describe diversity or
variability in the distribution. Our goal is to measure the amount of variability for a particular set of
scores.

MODULE LEARNING OUTCOME

In this module, you should be able to:
1. determine the most appropriate way of selecting a descriptive analysis in collecting data in a particular
study;
2. appreciate the importance of central tendency and variability in the presentation of data;
3. apply descriptive analysis in research and in any systematic investigation; and
4. apply suitable and appropriate measures of central tendency and variability to solve real life problems
in different discipline.
2 Module 2 | Descriptive Analysis

Lesson 1: MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this lesson, you are expected to:
• investigate a given situation by measuring your feet to represent mean, median, and mode ;
• demonstrate understanding of the key concepts of the different measures of central tendency of a
given data;
• compute and apply accurately the descriptive measures of central tendency in data analysis and
interpretation in solving problems that related to research, business, education, technology, science,
economics and others; and
• apply 1-4-3 chart to understand and reflect your learning.

PRE-ASSESSMENT
Instruction: Read, analyse and answer each of the following questions. Encircle the letter of your
correct answer.
1. Which of the following is reliable or more stable measurement to use when sample data are being used to
make inferences.
a) Mean b) Median c) Mode d) Range
2. Which of the following where the observation that appears the most number of times in a distribution.
a) Mean b) Median c) Mode d) Range
3. Which of the following is NOT TRUE about median?
A. All items or data are not arranged in an ascending or descending order.
B. A set of data that occupies the middle position in an array of values.
C. In odd number of data, the median is simply the middle value.
D. In even number of data, the median is the average of the two middle values in the ordered list.
4. The age of the members of RB Club are 22, 25, 35, 25, 22, 28, 22, 40, 21 and 23. Find the most frequent
age that always exist.
a) 22 b) 24 c) 23 d) 25
5. Ranyah gets grades of 86, 85, 93, and 87 on four math tests. What grade must she get on her fifth test to
average 88?
a) 86 b) 87 c) 89 d) 92
6. The scores of 10 students are 55, 75, 98, 85, 75, 80, 69, 88, 90 and 95. Find the middle value.
a) 80 b) 82 c) 82.50 d) 85
7. In a certain class there are 10 boys and 20 girls. If the class average for an algebra exam is 89 and the
boys’ average score is 87, what is the girls’ average score?
a) 88 b) 88.5 c) 89 d) 90
8. If there are 8 boys and the average number of marbles per boy is 13, how many marbles do they have all
together?
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a) 96 b) 100 c) 104 d) 140

9. A basketball team scored a total of 6,944 points in a certain number of games. If they averaged 112 points
per game, how many games did they play?
a) 56 b) 58 c) 60 d) 62
10. What is the mean weight of the five students whose weights are listed in the table below.
Name Weight in pounds
Marlou 122
Francis 132
Ranyah 126
Darmae 130
Marianne 120
a) 124 lb b) 125 lb c) 126 lb d) 128 lb
11. For the set of data consisting of 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, which statement is true?
a. mean = mode b. mean = median c. median = mode d. mean < median
12. Which measure of central tendency is greatly affected by extreme scores?
a. mean b. mode c. median d. none of the these
13. Which measure of central tendency is generally used in determining the size of
the most saleable shoes in a department store?
a. mean b. mode c. median d. Range
14. It is the sum of all the values in a data set divided by the total number of values.
a. Mean b. Median c. Mode d. range
15. In the set of scores given by Mr. Dan: 14, 17, 10, 22, 19, 24,8,12 and 19 . What is the median score?
a. 17 b. 16 c. 15 d. 13

LESSON MAP

Measures of
Central Tendency

Mean Median Mode

Figure 1.It shows that central tendency has three components. You will learn
about the mean, median and mode.
4 Module 2 | Descriptive Analysis

CORE CONTENTS

ENGAGE: LETS INVESTIGATE

Activity 1: Measure my feet
Instruction: Measure the length of your foot and your family member. Prepare the following materials: Pen,
Paper strips, Ruler, Scissors, and Scotch Tape.
Task 1: Measure the length/size of the foot of your family member using the given paper strips and cut it
according to the foot’s length. Using the ruler, measure the length of the paper strips (in cm) and record it the
table below.
Family member’s name Foot length (in cm)

Task 2: After collecting and measuring, connect all the paper strips end to end using scotch tape. After
connecting, divide and cut the long stretch of paper strip equally among the members of your family. What is
the length of the newly cut strip?
Task 3: Refer to Task 1. Arrange the lengths in ascending order (from smallest to greatest).
Foot Length (in cm)

What do you think?

a. Which foot length/s is located in the middle of the array (arranged numbers)?
b. Is there a foot length whose measure appears more than once? If yes, which among those
lengths occurs the most number of times?
5 Module 2 | Descriptive Analysis

EXPLORE: KNOW MORE ABOUT CENTRAL TENDENCY

Activity 2: Read Me!
INSTRUCTIONS: Read each concept below and understand the thought about measures of central
tendency.
A measure of central tendency is a summary measure that attempts to describe a whole set of data
with a single value that represents the middle or center of the data set. Central tendency, or "location", or
“position” attempt to quantify what we mean when we think of as the "typical" or "average" score in a data set.
Statistics geared toward measuring central tendency all focus on this concept of "typical" or "average."
Mean and median are the two measures of central tendency. The Median is used when it's obvious that the
mean would be misleading and this happens if there are extreme scores. Extreme scores are those are
usually referred to as outliers. These are very high or very low scores. We shall consider in this module the
three most important measures of central tendency: the mean, median and mode.

MEAN
- Also known as the arithmetic mean) is the most commonly used measure of central position.
- It is used to describe a set of data where the measures cluster or concentrate at a point. As the
measures cluster around each other, a single value appears to represent distinctively the typical
value.
- set of values or measurements is the sum of all the measurements divided by the number of
measurements in the set.

For ungrouped or raw data, the mean has the following formula.

where = sample mean

= sum of the items or values
n = number of items in the sample

Example:
Mr. Prime collects the data on the ages of Mathematics teachers in Science High School, and his study
yields the following: 38 35 28 36 35 33 40
Solution:

= 245 / 7
= 35
Based on the computed mean, 35 is the average age of Mathematics teachers in Science High School.

Properties of Mean
1. Mean can be calculated for any set of numerical data, so it always exists.
2. A set of numerical data has one and only one mean.
6 Module 2 | Descriptive Analysis

3. Mean is the most reliable measure of central tendency since it takes into account every item in the set
of data.
4. It is used only if the data are interval or ratio.

Weighted Arithmetic Mean

The mean of a set of values wherein each value or measurement has a different weight or degree of
importance.

The following is its formula:

∑𝑓 𝑥
𝑥̅ = ∑𝑓

Where: = weighted mean

x = represents each of the item value
f = represents the weight or frequency of each item
∑ = Summation

Example
Below are Jaya subjects and the corresponding number of units and grades she got for the previous grading
period. Compute her grade point average.

Subject Units(f) Grade(x)

Filipino 3 1.75

English 3 1.50

Mathematics 3 2.00

Science 6 2.25

Social Studies 3 2.25

TLE 3 1.50

Solution:
∑𝑓 𝑥
𝑥̅ = ∑𝑓

= 1.96
Hence, Jaya’s average grade is 1.96.

MEDIAN
The middle value here or term in a set of data arranged according to size/magnitude (either increasing or
decreasing).
16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Median
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16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Median
Example:
The amount of money a balut vendor earned on five randomly selected days are: P86, P109, P141, P74 and
P123. Find the middle value?
 Arrange it from lowest to highest: P74 , P86, P109, P123, P141.
 Hence, the middlemost value or median is P109.
Properties of Median
1. Median is the score or class in the distribution wherein 50% of the score fall below it and another 50%
lie.
2. Median is not affected by extreme or deviant values.
3. Median is appropriate to use when there are extreme or deviant values.
4. Median is used when the data are ordinal.

MODE
Denoted Mo, is the value which occurs most frequently in a set of measurements or values. In other words, it
is the most popular value in a given set. The data sets with unimodal, bimodal and trimodal are consists of
one mode, two mode and three modes.
To find the mode for a set of data:
1. select the measure that appears most often in the set;
2. if two or more measures appear the same number of times, then each of these values is a mode;
3. if every measure appears the same number of times, then the set of data has no mode.
Example:
Salaries of 5 employees represent: P 25,000, P10,000, P5,000, P3,000 and P3,000. Find the mode of the
data set.
❖ Therefore, the mode is P3,000 since it is the observation or salaries that appeared the most number of
times.
Properties of the Mode
1. It is used when you want to find the value which occurs most often.
2. It is a quick approximation of the average.
3. It is an inspection average.
4. It is the most unreliable among the three measures of central tendency because its value is undefined
in some observations.

TECH NOTES: You may click the link below for your own perusal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PApJlOrPDFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZETkRWMvMg

Computer Applications in computing measures of central tendency using excel will be presented. It
shows how to start with an excel program to facilitate computations.
8 Module 2 | Descriptive Analysis

EXPLAIN: ELABORATE THE CONCEPT

Activity 3: Let Me Explain!
INSTRUCTIONS: From the concept of measures of central tendency, explain the given questions
comprehensively.
1. How can I make use of the representations and descriptions of a given set of data? Elaborate.
2. What is the best way to measure a given set of data? Why?
3. What are commonly used measures of central tendency? What do they tell you?

TOPIC SUMMARY
In this lesson, you have learned that …
✓ There are three types of measures of central tendency, namely: mean, median and mode.
✓ Mean is the most commonly used, easily understood, easily calculated and generally recognized
average.
✓ Median is the midpoint of an array of numbers or observations.
✓ Mode is the observation that appears the most number of times in a distribution.

REFERENCES

Altares, P.; Copo, A.;et al (2012). Elementary Statistics with Computer Applications. Rex Book Store.
Angeles, F.; Evangelista, Y.;et al (2005). Simplified Approach to Statistics. Mutya Publishing House, Inc.
Johnson, R.; Kuby, P. (2013). Statistics Second Edition. Cengage Learning.
Parreno, E.; Jimenez, R. (2006). Basic Statistics a Worktext. C & E Publishing Inc..
Brase/Brase, Understandable Statistics, 9th edition.pdf