DescriptiveStatisticsMeasuresofCentral-Fairfield.pptVIP

Statistics for Everyone, Summer 2009 Workshop Removed 0 – 57 and put 0 to 57. - = subtraction Statistics for Everyone, Summer 2009 Workshop Range: 57 not 0 – 57 or 0 to 57?? Add symmetric data to title. Need to updated Handout 1 too!! Statistics for Everyone, Summer 2009 Workshop Range: 57 not 0 – 57 or 0 to 57?? Add skewed data to title. Need to updated Handout 1 too!! Statistics for Everyone, Summer 2009 Workshop Should SEM be SE_M? Statistics for Everyone, Summer 2009 Workshop Statistics for Everyone, Summer 2009 Workshop # Copyright?2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Statistics for Everyone Workshop Fall 2010 Part 2 Descriptive Statistics: Measures of Central Tendency and Variability Workshop presented by Linda Henkel and Laura McSweeney of Fairfield University Funded by the Core Integration Initiative and the Center for Academic Excellence at Fairfield University Descriptive Statistics Once you know what type of measurement scale the data were measured on, you can choose the most appropriate statistics to summarize them: Measures of central tendency: Most representative score Measures of dispersion: How far spread out scores are Measures of Central Tendency Central tendency = Typical or representative value of a group of scores Mean: Average score Median: middlemost score; score at 50th percentile; half the scores are above, half are below Mode: Most frequently occurring score(s) Measures of Central Tendency Measure Definition Takes Every Value Into Account? When to Use Mean M = ? X / n Yes Numerical data BUT… Can be heavily influenced by outliers so can give inaccurate view if distribution is not (approximately) symmetric Median Middle value No Ordinal data or for numerical data that are skewed Mode Most frequent data value No Nominal data Three Different Distributions That Have the Same Mean Sample A Sample B Sample C 0 8 6 2 7 6 6 6 6 10 5 6 12 4 6 Mean 6 6 6 Measures of Variability Knowing what the center of a s