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    Measures of Central Tendency and Variability

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    Measures of Central Tendency and Variability (1)

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    Measures of Central Tendency and Variability

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    of 72

    MEASURES OF

    CENTRAL TENDENCY
    AND VARIABILITY

    WHAT IS CENTRAL TENDENCY?


    A measure of central tendency is a score that summarizes
    the location of a distribution on a variable.
    MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

    Which measure of central tendency you should calculate


    depends on two factors:
    1. The scale of measurement used so that the
    summary makes sense given the nature of the scores.
    2. The shape of the frequency distribution the scores
    produce so that the measure accurately summarizes the
    distribution.
    NORMAL DISTRIBUTION

    Characteristics of normal distributions


    Classification of normal distributions should have the
    following features:

    ➢Symmetry at the mean value


    ➢The curve end points or “tails” meet the x-axis ➢The
    shape of the curve should be bell-shaped.

    Normal Distribution
    Skewed Distributions
    Skewed distribution curves are called skewed when it is not
    symmetrical at the mean (or median or mode) point. A
    skew can be positive or negative.
    Skewed Distributions

    ➢Where there is skewed data, the mean is dragged in the


    direct of the skew.

    ➢If the distribution of data is skewed to the left, the mean is


    less than the median, which is often less than the mode.

    ➢If the distribution of data is skewed to the right, the mode


    is often less than the median, which is less than the mean.
    Skewed Distributions

    Positively skewed
    ➢In a positively skewed
    distribution, the curve point
    ends or “tail” will be longer
    where a majority of scores (of
    either exam tests, memory tests) are
    larger.
    ➢In such cases of positively
    skewed distribution, the
    measures of central tendency
    (mean, median and mode) will decrease in value. Unlike
    normal distribution, the values of all three measures of central
    tendency are not the same.

    Skewed Distributions

    Negatively skewed
    ➢In a negatively skewed
    distribution, the curve point
    ends or “tail” will be longer
    where scores (of either exam tests,
    memory tests) are the
    smallest.
    ➢In such cases of a negative skew, the measures of central
    tendency (mean, median
    and mode) will increase in
    value.

    Mode

    The mode (��ෝ) can be defined simply as the most


    common score, that is, the score obtained from the largest
    number of subjects.
    Mode

    Example 1: Say we’ve collected some test scores and


    arranged them from lowest to highest: 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5,
    and 6. What is the mode?
    Mode

    Example 2: Consider the scores 2, 3,


    4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 11, and 12. What is/are the
    mode/s?

    Mode
    Use of Mode

    REMEMBER: The mode is the most frequently occurring score


    in the data and is usually used to summarize nominal
    scores.
    POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS WITH THE
    MODE
    1. The distribution may contain many scores that are all tied
    at the same highest frequency. With more than two modes,
    we fail to summarize the data. In the most extreme case,
    we might obtain a rectangular distribution such as 4, 4, 5, 5,
    6, 6, 7, and 7. Here there is no mode.
    POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS WITH THE
    MODE

    2. The mode does not take into account any scores other
    than the most frequent score(s), so it may not accurately
    summarize where most scores in the distribution are
    located. For example, say that we obtain the skewed
    distribution containing 7, 7, 7, 20, 20, 21, 22, 22, 23, and 24.
    The mode is 7, but this is misleading. Most of the scores are
    not around 7 and instead are up in the low 20s.
    Median

    The median (��෥) is simply another name for the score at


    the 50th percentile. The 50% of a distribution is at or below
    the score at the 50th percentile.
    Median

    The median is typically a better measure of central


    tendency than the mode because
    (1) only one score can be the median
    (2) the median will usually be around where most of the
    scores in the distribution tend to be located.

    Median
    Finding the Median
    • Arrange the scores from lowest to highest. With an odd
    number of scores, the score in the middle position is the
    approximate median.
    • For example, for the nine scores 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, and
    11, the score in the middle position is the fifth score, so the
    median is the score of 4.
    Finding the Median

    • On the other hand, if is an even number, the


    average of the two scores in the middle is the
    approximate median.
    • For example, for the ten scores 3, 8, 11, 11,
    12, 13, 24, 35, 46, and 48, the middle scores
    are at position 5 (the score of 12) and
    position 6 (the score of 13). The average of 12
    and 13 is 12.5, so the median is
    approximately 12.5.
    USE OF MEDIAN

    REMEMBER: The median is the score at the 50th percentile


    and is used to summarize ordinal or highly skewed interval
    or ratio scores.
    POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS OF THE MEDIAN

    Computing the median still ignores some information in the


    data because it reflects only the frequency of scores in the
    lower 50% of the distribution, without considering their
    mathematical values or considering the scores in the upper
    50%. Therefore, the median is not our first choice for
    describing the central tendency of normal distributions of
    interval or ratio scores.

    Mean

    The mean (��ഥ) is the score located at the mathematical


    center of a distribution. Although technically we call this
    statistic the arithmetic mean, it is what most people call the
    average.

    Computing the Mean

    Add up all the scores and then divide by the number of scores you
    added.

    Mean
    As an example, consider the scores 3, 4, 6, and 7. What is
    the mean score?
    Mean
    Uses of the Mean

    REMEMBER: Describe the central tendency of a normal


    distribution of interval or ratio scores by computing the
    mean.
    Uses of the Mean
    Comparing the Mean, Median and the
    Mode

    • In a perfect normal distribution, all three measures of


    central tendency are located at the same score.
    • If a distribution is only roughly normal, then the mean,
    median, and mode will be close to the same score.
    Comparing the Mean, Median and the
    Mode

    • The mean uses all information in the scores, and most of


    the inferential procedures, we’ll see involve the mean.
    Therefore, the rule is that the mean is the preferred statistic
    to use with interval or ratio data unless it clearly provides an
    inaccurate summary of the distribution.
    • The mean will inaccurately describe a skewed (non
    symmetrical) distribution.
    Comparing the Mean, Median and the

    Mode Use the median to summarize a skewed

    distribution.
    Comparing the Mean, Median and the
    Mode

    • Compute the mode with nominal data or with a distinctly


    bimodal distribution of any type of scores.
    • Compute the median with ordinal scores or with a skewed
    distribution of interval or ratio scores.
    • Compute the mean with a normal distribution of interval or
    ratio scores.

    WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT MEASURES OF


    VARIABILITY?
    Computing a measure of variability is important because
    without it a measure of central tendency provides an
    incomplete description of a distribution. The mean, for
    example, only indicates the central score and where the
    most frequent scores are.
    WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT MEASURES OF
    VARIABILITY?

    Thus, to completely describe a set of data, we need to


    know not only the central tendency but also how much the
    individual scores differ from each other and from the
    center. We obtain this information by calculating statistics
    called measures of variability.

    Measures of Variability

    Measures of variability describe the extent to which scores


    in a distribution differ from each other. With many, large
    differences among the scores, our statistic will be a larger
    number, and we say the data are more variable or show
    greater variability.

    Measures of variability communicate three related aspects of


    the data:
    First, the opposite of variability is consistency. Small
    variability indicates few and/or small differences among
    the scores, so the scores must be consistently close to each
    other (and reflect that similar behaviors are occurring).
    Conversely, larger variability indicates that scores (and
    behaviors) were inconsistent.
    Measures of variability communicate three related aspects of
    the data:

    Second, recall that a score indicates a location on a


    variable and that the difference between two scores is the
    distance that separates them. From this perspective, by
    measuring differences, measures of variability indicate how
    spread out the scores and the distribution are.
    Measures of variability communicate three related aspects of
    the data:

    Third, a measure of variability tells us how accurately the


    measure of central tendency describes the distribution. Our
    focus will be on the mean, so the greater the variability, the
    more the scores are spread out, and the less accurately
    they are summarized by the one, mean score. Conversely,
    the smaller the variability, the closer the scores are to each
    other and to the mean.

    REMEMBER: Measures of variability communicate the


    differences among the scores, how consistently close to the
    mean the scores are, and how spread out the distribution is.
    Range

    The descriptive statistic that indicates the distance


    between the two most extreme scores in a distribution is
    called the range.

    Range

    • The formula for computing the range is


    Range = highest score – lowest score

    Usually range is the sole measure of variability used only


    with nominal or ordinal data.

    Example: Find the range of the following age score:

    12, 15, 18, 13, 14, 18, 19, 12, 11, 14, 12
    R=H–L
    R = 19 – 11
    R

    UNDERSTANDING THE VARIANCE AND STANDARD DEVIATION

    We calculate variance and standard deviation, by


    measuring how much the scores differ from the mean.
    Because the mean is the center of a distribution, when
    scores are spread out from each other, they are also
    spread out from the mean. When scores are close to each
    other, they are also close to the mean.

    The Sample Variance

    The sample variance is the average of the squared


    deviations of scores around the sample mean. The symbol is
    s2.

    ��
    VARIANCE (unbiased estimator) ��
    σ ���� ��
    = −(σ ��)

    ��
    �� − ��
    THE SAMPLE VARIANCE

    Variance does communicate the relative variability of


    scores. Larger variance indicates that the data is more
    variable.
    Example: Find the variance of the following age score: 12,

    15, 18, 13, 14, 18, 19, 12, 11, 14, 12


    Sample Standard Deviation
    The sample standard deviation is the square root of the
    sample variance.

    REMEMBER: The standard deviation indicates the “average


    deviation” from the mean, the consistency in the scores,
    and how far scores are spread out around the mean.
    STANDARD DEVIATION (unbiased

    σ ����
    estimator) �� = −(σ
    ��
    ��)

    ��
    �� − ��
    Example: Find the standard deviation of the following age
    score:

    12, 15, 18, 13, 14, 18, 19, 12, 11, 14, 12
    INTERPRETATION OF STANDARD
    DEVIATION

    1. The standard deviation indicates that the scores differ


    from the mean by an “average”. Some scores deviate by
    more and some by less, but overall the scores deviate from
    the mean by close to an average. Further, the standard
    deviation measures in the same units as the raw scores, so
    the scores differ from the mean by an “average”.
    INTERPRETATION OF STANDARD
    DEVIATION

    2. The standard deviation allows us to gauge how


    consistently close together the scores are and,
    correspondingly, how accurately they are summarized by
    the mean. If it is relatively large, then we know that a large
    proportion of scores are relatively far from the mean. If it is
    small, then more of the scores are close to the mean, and
    relatively few are far from it.

    INTERPRETATION OF STANDARD
    DEVIATION
    3. The standard deviation indicates how much the scores
    below the mean deviate from it and how much the scores
    above the mean deviate from it, so the standard deviation
    indicates how much the scores are spread out around the
    mean.
    REMEMBER: The standard deviation indicates the “average
    deviation” from the mean, the consistency in the scores,
    and how far scores are spread out around the mean.

    References:
    Aaron, A. R., Elicay, R. S., & Laguerta, C. C. (2010). Assessment of
    Student Learning 1. C&E Publishing Inc.
    Corpuz, B. B., & Cuartel, I. E. (2021). Assessment in Learning 2:
    Authentic Assessment. Lorimar Publishing Inc.
    Navarro, R. L., & Santos, R. DG (2013). Authentic Assessment of Student
    Learning Outcomes. (2nd ed). Lorimar Publishing Inc. Navarro, R. L.,
    Santos, R. G., & Corpuz, B. B. (2019) Assessment of Learning. (4th ed).
    Lorimar Publishing Inc.

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