Measures of central tendency

• What is the mean?


  It is calculated by adding up all the scores or values in a data sat and dividing this figure by the total number of scores there are.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the mean?

  Advantage: It is a sensitive measure - it includes all scores

  Disadvantage: It may be unrepresentative - anomalies may distort it
• What is the median?

  The median is the middle value in a data set when scores are arranged from lowest to highest.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the median?

  Advantage: It is less affected by extreme scores - only focused on the middle value

  Disadvantage - It is less sensitive than the mean - actual values of lower and higher numbers are ignored
• What is the mode?

  The mode is the most frequently occurring score or value within a data set.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the mode?

  Advantage: It is relevant to categorical data - when data is discrete

  Disadvantage: It is overly simple - may be at one extreme