Measure Of

Central Tendency 1

E PRIMER MODULE 2018-20

 Central Tendency

 A measure of central tendency is a single value that describes the way in which a group of data cluster
around a central value

 It is a way to describe the center of a data set

 There are three measures of central tendency: the mean, the median, and the mode

 Central tendency is very useful in psychology

 Central tendency also allows you to compare one data set to another

2
E PRIMER MODULE 2018-20
 MEASURING MEAN

The mean is calculated in two steps:

1. Add the data together to find the sum
2. Take the sum of the data and divide it by the total number of data

The mean is the preferred measure of central tendency because it considers all of the values in the data set.

Data must be numerical

The mean is also very sensitive to outliers – The highest and the lowest value

It should not be used when outliers are present

3
E PRIMER MODULE 2018-20
 Measuring Median

 The median is the value that cuts the data set in half

 There are two steps to finding the median in a sample with an odd number of data:
1. List the data in numerical order
2. Locate the value in the middle of the list

 The median is less affected by outliers and skewed data

 It is important to find the middle value

 It is not a good measure of central tendency

4
E PRIMER MODULE 2018-20
 Measuring Mode

 The mode is the most frequent score in our data set

 On a histogram it represents the highest bar in a bar chart or histogram

 Consider the mode as being the most popular option

 the mode is used for categorical data where we wish to know which is the most common category

 one of the problems with the mode is that it is not unique

 The mode is very rarely used with continuous data

5
E PRIMER MODULE 2018-20
Thank you!

6
E PRIMER MODULE 2018-20