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Normal Distribution & Standard Scores

The document discusses the properties of normal distribution, including its symmetrical nature and statistical properties such as mean, median, and standard deviation. It also covers skewed distributions, the concept of kurtosis, and the calculation of z-scores for standard normal distribution. Additionally, it provides examples and activities related to applying these concepts in practical scenarios.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
7 views33 pages

Normal Distribution & Standard Scores

The document discusses the properties of normal distribution, including its symmetrical nature and statistical properties such as mean, median, and standard deviation. It also covers skewed distributions, the concept of kurtosis, and the calculation of z-scores for standard normal distribution. Additionally, it provides examples and activities related to applying these concepts in practical scenarios.

Uploaded by

muneetunde
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Peter Wafula

Of Great Focus
0708835047
Lecture 10:Normal Distribution &
Standard Scores

❑ Properties of a Normal Distribution


❑ Deviations From The Normal Distribution (Skewness)
❑ Kurtosis
❑ Z Scores, T Scores, & Percentiles

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
The Normal Distribution
In a normal distribution, data is symmetrically distributed.
Most values cluster around a central region, with values
tapering off as they go further away from the center.
The mean, mode & median are the same in a normal distri..
Describes the spread of naturally occurring phenomena such
as intelligence, height, weight, age, etc. in a population.
Tests of mental abilities often yield distributions of scores that
conform closely to the normal distribution.
Many measures of most human characteristics (trait)
approximate the normal curve.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Skewed Distributions
In skewed distributions, more values fall on one side of the
center than the other, and the mean, median and mode all
differ from each other.
One side has a more spread out and longer tail with fewer
scores at one end than the other.
The direction of this tail tells you the side of the skew
In a positively skewed distribution, there’s a cluster of lower
scores and a spread-out tail on the right.
In a negatively skewed distribution, there’s a cluster of higher
scores and a spread-out tail on the left.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Properties of the normal distribution
The normal curve is Bell-shaped.
Mean, median, and mode located at the centre.
Unimodal
Symmetric about the mean - made up of exactly similar
parts facing each other.
The curve is continuous
Asymptotic - the curve approaches, but never touches, the
x-axis as it extends farther and farther away from the mean.

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Statistical Properties
The total area under the curve is 1 or 100%.
50% or 0.5 of the area lies above the mean and 50 %
below the mean.
34.13 % of the total area under the curve lies
between the mean and one SD below and above the
mean.
47.72% of the total area under the curve lies
between the mean and two SD below and above the
mean.

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Statistical Properties
49.9% of the total area under the curve lies between
the mean and one SD below and above the mean.
About 68.26 % of the total area under the curve lies
within one SD of the mean. (i.e., 34.13 x2).
About 95.44% of the total area under the curve lies
within two SD of the mean. (i.e., 47.72 x2).
About 99.8% of the total area under the curve lies
within three SD of the mean. (i.e., 49.87x2).

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
The Standard Normal Distribution
The standard normal distribution, also called the z-distribution,
is a special normal distribution where the mean is 0 and the
standard deviation is 1.
Any normal distribution can be standardized by converting its
values into z-scores.
Z-scores tell you how many standard deviations from the
mean each value lies.
Thus, any normal distribution can be linearly transformed into
a standard normal distribution using the formula for the
standard/z- score: Z = Value - Mean/SD.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus

Areas Under the Normal Curve


0708835047

An important feature of normal curve is the relationship


between the area under the curve (i.e., the percentage or
proportion of the population) and the standard deviation
of a distribution.
It turns out that, regardless of the mean or standard
deviation a normal curve may have, there will be a
constant proportion of area between the mean and an
ordinate, which is a given distance from the mean in
terms of standard deviation units.

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Peter Wafula
Finding areas under the standard normal
Of Great Focus
0708835047
distribution curve
Steps
Draw picture
Shade the desired area
Get the area from the table.

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Procedure
Between 0 and any z-score value: look up the z-score
value to get the area.
In any tail: look up the z-score value to get the area.
Then subtract area from 0.50.
Between two z-score values on the same side of the
mean, look up both z-score values to get the areas, then
subtract the smaller area from the larger area.
Between two z-score values on opposite sides of the
mean, look up both z-score values to get the areas, then
add the areas.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Procedure

To the left of any z-value where z is greater than the


mean: look up the z-value to get the area, then add
0.50.
To the right of any z-value, where z is less than the
mean, look up the value in the table to get the area,
then add 0.50 to the area.
In any two tails. Look up the z-values in the table to
get the areas. Subtract both areas from 0.50, then
add the answers.

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Examples:
In a class of 100 pupils the mean of a test is 15 and
standard deviation is 2.5. Assuming these 100 scores have
a normal distribution,
(a) How many pupils’ scores lie between 12.5 and 17.5?
= − ҧ= 12⋅52⋅517.5−15
−15
= −1
Z= =1

Thus, the area between one standard deviation below the


mean (z = -1) and the mean is .341 for standard normal 18

curve.
Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Cont.…

The area between the mean and one standard deviation


above the mean (z = 1) is also .341.

Consequently, the total area is .682.

Thus, the number of students who scored between 12.5 and


17.5 are .682 × 100% = 68%.

Since the total number of students was 100, then the required
number of students who scored between 12.5 and 17.5 is 68.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
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(b) How many scored above 20?

Note, 20 is 2 standard
deviation above the mean
since the z-score for 20 is:
= 20−152.5 = 2

Hence, those above 2


standard deviations are
.500 - .477 = .023 20
Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Cont.….

Since the area between the mean and 2 standard


deviations is .477,

2 standard deviations and above occupy .500 - .477 = .023.


Thus, the number of students above 20 is .023 × 100 = 2

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
(c) How many scored between 16 and 18? 16−15
2⋅5
Score 16 is 2⋅5
= 1 = .4

standard deviation above


the mean.
While 18 is 18−152.5 = 253 = 1.2

standard deviation above


the mean.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Cont.…

Thus, the area between 15 and 16 is .155 (i.e., the area for
z = .4 from the above table), area between 15 and 18 is
.385 (area for z = 1.2 from the table also).

Thus, the area between 16 and 18 is .385 - .155 = .230 (the


yellow filled area), and this area represents .230 × 100 = 23
pupils

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Cont..
(d) Suppose 95% of the top
scores of this group are to
be selected.
What is the minimum score
one must obtain to be
selected?
To be able to use the tables
provided able, we need to
get the area from the mean
to any required z.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Cont..

look for the z value corresponding to this area B.


The area is .95 - .50 = .45 and it is below the mean, so its
corresponding z value is negative.
From the table, z value corresponding to area is –1.645. (It is
negative since it is below the mean). −15
2⋅5

We know z = − ҧ So required x-score is: -1.645 = This implies that x is 15 –1.645 × 2.5 = 15 - 4.1125

= 10.8875
So, the minimum score one must get to be selected is 11.
25
Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Activity 1
In a biology test, the mean was 48 and standard deviation was 5 for a
group of 100 Form II students.
(a) Assuming a normal distribution,
[i] How many scores were there between 43 and 53?
[ii] How many were there above 43?
[iii]How many pupils scored below 45?
[iv]How scored between 45 and 56?
(b) Supposing due to limited facilities, 90% of top students are to be
selected using these scores, what is the minimum score a pupil has
to obtain to be selected?

26
Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Activity 2
In an intelligence test administered to 100 children, the mean
of the test was 100 and standard deviation 20.
[i] Find the number of children exceeding a score of 125.
[ii] Find the number of children who obtained a mark between
90 and 130.
[iii] Suppose 5% of the lower end of the distribution are to be
selected for an enrichment program, what should be the cut
off mark?

27
Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Activity 3
In a mock examination, the overall mean score was 100 and the
standard deviation 20. Assuming that the scores were normally
distributed and the classes which did the mock had 200 pupils
altogether:
[a] How many pupils scored marks between 80 and 120?
[b] How many scored between 110 and 120?
[c] Which score separates the upper 20% of scores from the
lower 80 in the mock examination?

28
Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Activity 4
The scores on a test were normally distributed, with mean of 76
and standard deviation of 12.
[a] Compute the z score for the score 70 on the test.
[b] Compute the z score for the score 94 on the test.
[c] What proportion of the scores in the distribution should fall
between 70 and 94?
[d] If N = 50, how many scores fall below 70?
[e] If N = 50, how many scores lie between 70 and 94?

29
Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Kurtosis
There is another slightly different way of describing the
shapes of frequency distributions.
This is often discussed in the study of kurtosis.
Kurtosis refers to the flatness or peakedness of a distribution
in relation to the normal curve.
If one distribution is more peaked than another, it is described
as leptokurtic.
If it is less peaked, it is said to be more platykurtic.
The normal distribution is spoken of as mesokurtic.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
A figure showing forms of kurtosis

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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Kurtosis
Kurtosis is a measure of the tailedness of a distribution.
Tailedness is how often outliers occur.
Excess kurtosis is the tailedness of a distribution relative to a normal
distribution.
Distributions with medium kurtosis (medium tails) are mesokurtic.
Distributions with low kurtosis (thin tails) are platykurtic.
Distributions with high kurtosis (fat tails) are leptokurtic.
Tails are the tapering ends on either side of a distribution.
They represent the probability or frequency of values that are
extremely high or low compared to the mean.
In other words, tails represent how often outliers occur.
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Peter Wafula
Of Great Focus
0708835047
Example: Types of kurtosis

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