skewed distribution

• a data set with a skewed distribution will not be symmetrical, scores are not distributed evenly either side of the mean
• skewed distributions are caused by outliers, freak scores that throw off the mean average, skewed distributions can be positive or negative
• positively skewed- a freakishly high score (or a cluster of low scores) makes the mean much higher than most of the scores, so scores are below the mean
• negatively skewed- a freakishly low score (or a cluster of high scores) makes the mean much lower than most of the scores, so most scores are above the mean