Statistics in Assessment of Learning

“What gets measured, gets managed.”

- Peter Drucker

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

a. explain the meaning and function of the measures of central tendency and measures of dis-
persion/variability
b. distinguish among the measures of central tendency and measures variability/dispersion
c. explain the meaning of normal and skewed score distribution.

CONTENT

A measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a set of data (like scores)
by identifying the central position within the set of data or scores. As such, measures of central tendency
are sometimes called measures of central location. Central tendency refers to the center of a distribution
of observations. Where do scores tend to congregate? In a test of 100 items, where are most of the
scores? Do they tend to group around the mean score of 50 or 80?
There are three measures of central tendency – the mean, the median and the mode. Perhaps you
are most familiar with the mean (often called average). But there are two other measures of central
tendency, namely, the median and the mode. Is there such a thing as best measure of central tendency?
If the measures of central tendency indicate where scores congregate, the measures of variability
indicate how spread out a group of scores is or how varied the scores are or how far they are from the
mean? Common measures of dispersion or variability are range, interquartile range, variance and
standard deviation.

THE MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

The mean, mode and median are valid measures of central tendency but under different
conditions, one measure becomes more appropriate than the others. For example, if the scores are
extremely high and extremely low, the median is a better measure of central tendency since mean is
affected by extremely high and extremely low scores.

The Mean (Arithmetic)

The mean (or average or arithmetic mean) is the most popular and most well-known
measure of central tendency. The mean is equal to the sum of all the values in the data set divided by the
number of values in the data set. For example, 10 students in a Graduate School class got the following
scores in a 100 – item test: 70, 72, 75, 77, 78, 80, 84,, 87, 90, 92. The mean score of the group of 10
students is the sum of all their scores divided by 10. The mean, therefore, is 805/10 equals 80.5. 80.5 is
the average score of the group. There are 6 scores below the average score (mean) of the group (70, 72,
75, 77, 78 and 80) and there are 4 scores above the average score (mean) of the group (84, 87, 90 and
92).
When Not to Use the Mean
The mean has one main disadvantage. It is particularly susceptible to the influence of outliers.
These are values that are unusual compared to the rest of the data set by being especially small or large
in numerical value. For example, consider the scores of 10 Grade 12 students in a 100-item Statistics
test below:
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 Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5 38 56 60 67 70 73 78 79 95

The mean score for these ten Grade 12 students is 62.1 However, inspecting the raw data
suggests that this mean score may not be the best way to accurately reflect the score by the typical
Grade 12 student, as most students have scores in the 5 to 95 range. The mean is being skewed by the
extremely low and extremely high scores. Therefore, in this situation, we would like to have a better
measure of central tendency. As we will find out later, taking the median would be a better measure of
central tendency in this situation.

Median
The median is the middle score for a set of scores arranged from lowest to highest. The mean is
less affected by extremely low and extremely high scores. How do we find the median? Suppose we have
the following data:
65 55 89 56 35 14 56 55 87 45 92
To determine the median, first we have to rearrange the scores into order of magnitude (from
smallest to largest).
14 35 45 55 55 56 56 65 87 89 92
Our median is the score at the middle of the distribution. In this case, 56. It is the middle score.
There are 5 scores before it and 5 scores after it. This works fine when you have an odd number of scores,
but what happens when you have an even number of scores? What if you had 10 scores like the scores
below?
65 55 89 56 35 14 56 55 87 45

Arrange that data according to order of magnitude (smallest to largest). Then take the middle two
scores (55 and 56) and compute the average of the two scores. The median is 55.5. This gives us a more
reliable picture of the tendency of the scores. These are indeed scores of 55 and 56 in the score distribution.

Mode
The mode is the most frequent score in our data set. On a histogram or bar chat it represents the
highest bar. You can therefore, sometimes consider the mode as being the most popular option. Study the
score distribution given below:
14 35 45 55 55 56 56 65 87 89
There are two most frequent scores 55 and 56. So we have a score distribution with two
modes, hence a bimodal distribution.
An example of a mode is presented below:

Source: https://statistics.laerd.com/statistical-guides/measures-central-tendency-mean-mode-median.php
 NORMAL AND SKEWED DISTRIBUTIONS
The sample can be “normally distributed” or “not normally distributed” : a sample has a “normal
distribution” when most of the values are aggregated around the mean, and the number of values de-
crease as you move below or above the mean: the bar graph of frequencies of a “normally distributed”
sample will look like a bell curve.

 If mean is equal to the median and median is equal to the mode, the core distribution shows a perfectly
normal distribution. This is illustrated by the perfect bell shape or normal curve shown in the figure.
 If mean is less than the median and the mode, the score distribution is a negatively skewed
distribution. In a negatively skewed distribution the scores tend to congregate at the upper end of the
score distribution.

 If mean is equal to the median and median is equal to the mode, the core distribution shows a
perfectly normal distribution. This is illustrated by the perfect bell shape or normal curve shown in
the figure.
 If mean is less than the median and the mode, the score distribution is a negatively skewed
distribution. In a negatively skewed distribution the scores tend to congregate at the upper end of the
score distribution.
 If mean is greater than the median and the mode, the score distribution is a positively skewed
distribution. In a positively skewed distribution the scores tend to congregate at the lower end of the
score distribution.
If scores tend to be high because teacher taught very well and students are highly motivated to learn, the
score distribution tends to be negatively skewed, i.e. the scores will tend to be high. On the other hand,
when teacher does not teach well and students are poorly motivated, the score distribution tends to be
positively skewed which means that scores to be low.

OUTCOME-BASED TEACHING-LEARNING AND SCORE DISTRIBUTION

If teachers teach in accordance with the principles of outcome-based teaching-learning and so
align content and assessment with the intended learning outcomes and re-teach till mastery what has/have
not been understood as revealed by the formative assessment process, then student scores in the
assessment phase of the lesson will tend to congregate on the higher end of the score distribution. Score
distribution will be positively skewed.
On the other hand, if what teachers teach and assess are not aligned with the intended learning
outcomes, the opposite will be true. Score distribution will be negatively skewed which means that scores
tend to congregate on the lower end of the score distribution.

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 MEASURES OF DISPERSION OR VARIABILITY
If the measures of central tendency indicate where scores congregate, the measures of variability
indicate how spread out a group of scores is or how varied the scores are. Common measures of
dispersion or variability are range, variance and standard deviation.
What is variability?
Variability refers to how “spread out” a group of scores is. The terms variability, spread, and
dispersion are synonyms, and refer to how spread out a distribution is. Here are two sets of score
distribution:
A – 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 – mean is 5.6
B – 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 – mean is 5.6
The two score distributions have equal mean scores and yet the scores are varied. Score
distribution A shows scores that are less varied than score distribution B. That is what we mean by
variability or dispersion. If we have to study both score distributions, assuming that the highest possible
score in the quiz is 10, we can say that Groups A and B are equal in terms of mean but Group A has more
similar scores and are closer to the mean while Group B, while its mean is equal to the mean of Group A,
students in Group B have more varied scores than Group A. In fact the lowest score is extremely low
compared to Group A and the highest score is much higher than the highest score in Group A.

To see more what we mean by spread out, consider graphs in Figure 1. These graphs represent
the scores on two quizzes. The mean score for each quiz is 7.0. Despite the equality of means, you can
see that the distributions are quite different. Specifically, the scores on Quiz 1 are more densely packed
and those on Quiz 2 are more spread out. The differences among students were much greater on Quiz 2
than on Quiz 1.
1. Range
The range is the simplest measure of variability. The range is simply the highest score minus the lowest
score.
Let’s take a few examples. What is the range of the following group of scores: 10, 2, 5, 6, 7, 3, 4? The
highest number is 10, and the lowest number is 2, so 10 – 2 = 8. The range is 8.
Here are other examples:
Here is a set of scores in a test : 99, 45, 23, 67, 45, 91, 82, 78, 62, 51. What is the range? The highest
number is 99 and the lowest number is 23, so 99 – 23 equals 76; the range is 76. Here is another set of
scores: 40, 40, 42, 50, 53, 56, 67, 68, 70, 89. What is the range? 89 minus 40 equals 49. The range is 49.
The set of scores with a range of 76 is more varied or more spread than the set of scores with a range of 49.

2. Variance
Variability can also be defined in terms of how close the scores in the distribution are to the middle of
the distribution. Using the mean as the measure of the middle of the distribution, the variance is defined as
the average squared difference of the scores from the mean. The data from Quiz 1 are shown in Table 1.
The mean score is 7.0. therefore, the column “Deviation from Mean” contains the score minus 7. The column
“Squared Deviation” is simply the previous column squared.

Table 1. Calculation of Variance for Quiz 1 scores

Scores Deviation from Mean Squared Deviation
9 2 4
9 2 4
9 2 4
8 1 1
8 1 1
8 1 1
8 1 1
7 0 0
7 0 0
7 0 0
7 0 0
7 0 0
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
5 -2 4
5 -2 4
Means
7 0 1.5

One thing that is important to notice is that the mean deviation from the mean is 0. This will always be
the case. The mean of the squared deviations is 1.5. Therefore, the variance is 1.5. The formula for the
variance is:

3. Standard Deviation
To calculate the standard deviation of those numbers:
1. Work out the Mean (the simple average of the numbers).
2. Then for each number: subtract the Mean and square the result
3. Then work out the mean of those squared differences.
4. Take the square root of that and we are done!

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 The Formula Explained
First, let us have some example values to work on:
Example: Sam has 20 rose bushes.
The number of flowers on each bush is 9, 2, 5, 4, 12, 7, 8, 11, 9, 3, 7, 4, 12, 5, 4, 10, 9, 6, 9,4
Let’s solve for the Standard Deviation
Step 1. Work out the mean
In the formula above μ (the Greek letter ‘mu”) is the Mean of all our values …
Example: 9, 2, 5, 4, 12, 7, 8, 11, 9, 3, 7, 4, 12, 5, 4, 10, 9, 6, 9, 4

The mean is:

(9+2+5+4+12+7+8+11+9+3+7+4+12+5+4+10+9+6+9+4)/20
= 140/20 = 7
So, μ = 7
Step 2. Then for each number: Subtract the Mean and square the result
This is the part of the formula that says:
So what is X1 ? They are the individual x values 9, 2, 5, 4,12, 7, etc… In other words X1 = 9, X2 = 2, X3 = 5, etc.
So it says “for each value, subtract the mean and square the result,” like this
Example (continued):

… etc …
And we get these results:
4, 25, 4, 9, 25, 0, 1, 16, 4, 16, 0, 9, 25, 4, 9, 9, 4, 1, 4, 9
Step 3. Then work out the mean of those squared differences.
To work out the mean, add up all the values then divide by how many.

First add up all the values from the previous step. But how do we say “add them all up” in mathe-
matics? We use “Sigma”:
The handy Sigma Notation says to sum up as many terms as we want:
We want to add up all the values from 1 to N, where N = 20 in our case because there are 20 val-
ues:
Example (continued):

Mean of squared differences = (1/20) * 178 = 8.9

(Note: this value is called the “variance”)

Step 4. Take the square root of that:

Example (concluded) :

= 2.983 …
Sample Standard Deviation
But sometimes our data are only a sample of the whole population.
Example: Sam has 20 rose bushes, but only counted the flowers on 6 of them!
The “population” is all 20 roses bushes, and the “sample” is the 6 bushes that Sam counted
among the 20.
Let us say Sam’s flower counts are: 9, 2, 5, 4, 12, 7
We can still estimate the standard deviation.
But when we use the sample as an estimate of the whole population, the standard deviation
formula changes to this:
The formula for Sample Standard Deviation:

The important change is “N-1” instead of “N” (which is called “Bessel’s correction”).
The symbols also change to reflect that we are working in a sample instead of the whole population:
 The mean is now (for sample mean) instead of μ (the population mean),
 And the answer is s (for Sample Standard Deviation) instead of σ.
But that does not affect the calculations. Only N-1 instead of N changes the calculations.

Here are the steps in calculating the Sample Standard deviation:

Step 1. Work out the mean
Example 2: Using sampled values 9, 2, 5, 4, 12, 7
The mean is (9 + 2 + 5 + 4 + 12 + 7) /6 = 39/6 = 6.5
So: x = 6.5
Step 2. Then for each number: subtract the Mean and square the result
Example 2 (continued)

Step 3. Then work out the mean of those squared differences.

To work out the mean, add up all the values then divide by how many.
But hang on … we are calculating the sample standard deviation, so instead of dividing by how
many (N), we will divide by N-1
Example 2 (continued):
Sum = 6.25 + 20.25 + 2.25 + 6.25 + 30. 25 + 0.25 = 65.5
Divide by N – 1: (1/5) * 65.5 = 13.1
(This value is called the “Sample Variance”)
Step 4. Take the square root of that:
Example 2 (concluded)

s=

= 3. 619...

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 Comparing
When we used the whole population we got: mean = 7, Standard Deviation = 2. 983 …
When we used the sample we got: Sample Mean = 6.5, Sample Standard Deviation = 3.619 …
Our Sample Mean was wrong by 7%, and our Sample Standard Deviation was wrong by 21%.
Why Take a Sample
Mostly because it is easier and cheaper.
Imagine you want to know what the whole university thinks … you can’t ask thousands of people,
so instead you ask maybe only 300 people. Samuel Johnson once said “You don’t have to eat the whole
ox to know that the meat is tough.”

MORE NOTES ON STANDARD DEVIATION

The standard deviation is simply the square root of the variance. The standard deviation is an
especially useful measure of variability when the distribution is normal or approximately normal because
the proportion of the distribution within a given number of standard deviations from the mean can be
calculated. For example, 68% of the standard deviation of the mean and approximately 95% of the
distribution is within two standard deviations of the mean. Therefore, if you had a normal distribution with a
mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, then 68% of the distribution would be between 50 – 10 = 40
and 50 + 10 = 60. Similarly, about 95% of the distribution would be between 50 -2 * 10 = 30 and
50 + 2 * 10 = 70. The symbol for the population standard deviation is σ ;
The figure below shows the normal distributions. The distribution (red line) has a mean of 40 and a
standard deviation of 5; the other distribution has a mean of 60 and a standard deviation of 10. For the
distribution (red line), 68% of the distribution is between 35 and 45; for the other distribution, 68% is
between 50 and 70.

Source: http://onlinestatbook.com/2/summarizing_distributions/variability.html

Standard Deviation is a measure of dispersion, the more dispersed the data, the less consistent the
data are. A lower standard deviation means that the data are more clustered around the mean and hence
the data set is more consistent.
You need to read your calculator instructions to see what notation your calculator uses for the
standard deviation.
An example. Standard deviation for a data set with frequency 1.
Using the following data: 10 15 13 25 22 53 47
We found the mean to be x = 26.4285714. You should also see from the same calculation that the
standard deviation (SD) = 16.98879182
Interpretation of Standard Deviation
Let us use the standard deviation to compare two data sets. Let us use the standard deviation to inter-
pret how consistent the data are. The lower the standard deviation, the more consistent the data are.
Example – Two bowlers, Katie and Mike have the scores given below:
Katie’s Scores 189 146 200 241 231
Mike’s Scores 235 201 217 168 186
Both sets of data have a mean (x) = 201.14. Does this mean they are equivalent bowlers?
No, consider the standard deviations. Katie has a standard of SD = 37. 6470 and Mike has a stand-
ard deviation of SD = 26. 1017. Since Mike has a smaller standard deviation, he is a more consistent bowler
than Katie, i.e. Mike is more likely to get a score of 201.4
Let’s presume that Katie’s and Mike’s scores are scores in a long test:
Katie’s Scores – 189 146 200 241 231
Mike’s Scores – 235 201 217 168 186
 If you compute the mean for both sets of scores, you get 201. SD for Katie’s scores is 37.6470 while
that of Mike is 26.1017. Mike’s scores indicate greater consistency than those of Katie. This means that Mike
tends to do better than Katie because his scores are more consistent than those of Katie.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

I. Direction: Read the options and statements carefully and encircle the letter of your answer.
1. Which is referred to as average of scores?
a.mean c. mode
b. median d. standard deviation
2. If scores are plotted in a histogram, which do you call that with the highest frequency?
a.mean c. mode
b.median d. standard deviation
3. Which is the midpoint of a score distribution?
a.mean c. mode
b.median d. standard deviation
4. Which does NOT belong?
a.mean c. mode
b.median d. standard deviation
5. Which is a measure of variability?
a.range c. mean
b.median d. mode
6. Which is a measure of dispersion?
a.mean c. mode
b.median d. variance
7. Which is a measure of the spread of scores?
a.mean c. standard deviation
b.mode d. median
8. You like to get a more reliable picture of the scores of your students in your Math class? Which will you
compute?
a.The mean c. The difficulty index
b.The mean and the SD d. The discrimination index
9. Here is a score distribution of a quiz with 10 as the highest possible score: 2,4,5,5,6,7,7,7,8,8. What is the
range?
a.2 c. 7
b.6 d. 8
10. Which score distribution do all teachers, parents and students wish?
a.negatively skewed c. positively skewed
b.bell curve d. That depends on the mean
11. If there is not real teaching and learning that take place, which score distribution is most likely to come?
a.negatively skewed c. positively skewed
b.Bell curve d. That depends on the mean
12. Among the measures of central tendency, which is most affected by outliers?
a.mean c. mode
b.median d. range
13. If a score distribution has no outliers, which is most likely to be TRUE?
a.The scores may not be so varied.
b.The scores may be highly varied.
c.In this case, the median is the most reliable measure of central tendency.
d.In this case, the mode is the best measure of central tendency.
14. Which is the mean of the squared deviation from the mean?
a.variance c. standard deviation
b.range d. mean

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 15. Which is TRUE of scores that follow the normal distribution curve?
a.The mean, the median and mode are equal.
b.The median is higher than the mean.
c.The mean is higher than the median.
d.The mode is higher than the mean and the median.
16. If a score distribution has a standard deviation of zero, what does it mean?
a.most scores are zero
b.The scores are the same
c.Most scores are the same
d.Most scores are negative
For items 17-20, here is a set of scores: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7.
17. What is the mean? _______
18. What is the median? ________
19. What is the mode? _________
20. What is the range? _________
21-25. A student has gotten the following grades on his tests: 87, 95, 76 and 88. He wants an 85 or better
overall. What is the minimum grade he must get on the last test in order to achieve that average? Show
pertinent solutions.

ASSESSMENT

I. Direction: Read the options and statements carefully and encircle the letter of your answer.
1. Which is referred to as average of scores?
a.mean
b.median
c.mode
d.standard deviation
2. If scores are plotted in histogram, which do you call that with the highest frequency?
a.mean
b.median
c.mode
d.standard deviation
3. Which is a measure of variability?
a.range
b.median
c.mean
d.mode
4. Which score distribution do all teachers, parents and students wish?
a.negatively skewed
b.bell curve
c.positively skewed
d.That depends on the mean
5. Which is TRUE of scores that follow the normal distribution curve?
a.The mean, the median and mode are equal
b.The median is higher than the mean
c.The mean is higher than the median
d.The mode is higher than the mean and the median

6. Using the positively skewed distribution as a reference, which of the following is incorrect?
a. Median is higher than the mode.
b. Mean is not lower than the mode.
c. Mean is higher than the median.
d. Mean is lower than the mode.
7. If quartile deviation is to median, what is to mean?
a. Standard deviation
b. Mode
c. Range
d. Variance
8. The result of the test given by teacher A showed a negatively skewed distribution. What kind of test did
Teacher A give?
a. The test is difficult
b. It is not too easy nor too difficult
c. It is moderately difficult
d. It is easy
9 .Which of the following indicates how compressed or expanded the distribution of scores is?
a. Measures of position
b. Measures of central tendency
c. Measures of correlation
d. Measures of variability
10. Two sections have the same mean but the standard deviation of section 2 is higher than section 1.
Which of the two sections is more homogeneous?
a. Section 1
b. Section 2
c. Both A and B
d. None of the above

REFERENCES

Books
 Navarro, R. Santos, R. and Corpuz, B. (2019). Assessment of Learning 1 4th Ed. Lorimar Publishing,
Inc: Quezon City
 Navarro, R. Santos, R. and Corpuz, B. (2012). Assessment of Learning Outcomes 2nd Ed. Lorimar
Publishing, Inc: Quezon City
 Gabuyo, Y. (2012). Assessment of Learning 1 Textbook and Reviewer, Rex Book Store, Inc.: Manila
 Buendicho, F. (2010). Assessment of Student Learning 1. Rex Book Store, Inc.: Manila
 Calmorin, L. (2011). Assessment of Student Learning 1. Rex Book Store, Inc.: Manila

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