Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics

Question 1

explain the ‘mean’ as a measure of central tendency?

Answer 1

-add up all the values and divide by the total amount of numbers of values in set

Question 2

evaluate the ‘mean’ as a measure of central tendency?

Answer 2

+most sensitive, as it takes into account every value
+most precise
-most likely to be distorted by anomalous scores because it uses all values in data set so may not give representation of the most typical score

Question 3

explain the ‘medium’ as a measure of central tendency?

Answer 3

• rank all the values in order from smallest to largest
• then count middle value
• if there are two, then find the middle value of the two

Question 4

evaluate the ‘medium’ as a measure of central tendency?

Answer 4

+not affected by anomalous results, as it looks at middle, unlike mean
-less precise than mean, doesn’t examine all values in data set, only focuses on one

Question 5

explain the ‘mode’ as a measure of central tendency?

Answer 5

-calculated by identifying most frequently occurring value in data set

Question 6

evaluate the ‘mode’ as a measure of central tendency?

Answer 6

+most appropriate method to use if we have categorical data

• may have multiple modal values in data set
• may not represent most typical score

Question 7

rank the best measures of central tendency to use, and how to remember?

Answer 7

mean (me first)
median
mode (mo last)

Question 8

explain ‘range’ as a measure of dispersion?

Answer 8

-subtracts the lowest data score from the highest

Question 9

evaluate the ‘range’ as a measure of dispersion?

Answer 9

+less sensitive measure compared to standard deviation as it considers all values
+easy to calculate
-range only takes into account the most extreme values

Question 10

explain ‘standard deviation’ as a measure of dispersion?

Answer 10

• single value that says how far scores have deviated from the mean
• the larger the deviation the greater the dispersion, further from mean =bad
• closer deviation= better (closer to the mean and less range)

Question 11

name the measures of dispersion

Answer 11

• range

- standard deviation

Question 12

name the descriptive statistics?

Answer 12

• mean
• median
• mode

Question 13

evaluate ‘standard deviation’ as a measure of dispersion?

Answer 13

+very precise
+includes all values within final conclusion unlike the range
-but can distorted by an anomalous value like the mean