MODULE 4 - Measures of Central Tendency
MODULE 4 - Measures of Central Tendency
MODULE 4 - Measures of Central Tendency
Introduction
Note: This module presents how to compute for the measures of central
tendency using manual or long hand calculations, for the purpose of introducing
it conceptually. In the succeeding modules, the use of SPSS is emphasized.
THE MEAN
where: is the arithmetic mean of the X’s (observations), ∑X (the Greek letter
sigma), is ‘the sum of X” , and n is the number of observations, or in our case,
scores.
Example 1. Carlo obtained the following scores for the 10 quizzes given by his
teacher: 25,28, 34, 35, 28, 37, 36, 32, 35 and 34 .
The mean is:
⸱ ൭ 㸶 ㈷ 〠 〰 ㌱
㌱
ퟖ ퟖ *
㌱
= ㌱
ʹ⸱
Example 2. Joan got the following scores in the performance tasks:
90 ,75, 80, 83, 87, 86, 84, 80, and 92
〰㌱ ㈷൭ 〠㌱ 〠 〠㈷ 〠㸶 〠⸱ 〠㌱ 〰
〰
〰
= 84.11
Mean can also be viewed as the ‘center of gravity’ of a distribution. It
serves as the fulcrum in balancing all the values in the distribution.
The Weighted Mean
Example: Fifty (50) students were given a test in Science and their scores are
presented below. The table shows that of the 50 students, 4 of them got a score
of 70, 6 students got a score of 67, and so forth.
Xi fi Xifi
70 4 280 (70x4)
67 6 402
64 5 320
60 7 420
58 5 290
56 4 224
54 5 270
50 6 300
45 8 360
Ʃ f1 =50 Ʃ Xifi= 2,866
Xi fi Xifi
92 3 276 (92x3)
90 8 720
88 4 352
86 5 430
84 10 840
83 9 747
80 7 560
79 9 711
Ʃ f1 =55 Ʃ Xifi= 4,636
The formula for computing the mean for grouped data is:
th
th
Solution:
*
t
ʹ
Example 2. The following are the students’ test scores in a Math class.
Test Number of Students Class Mark fxCM
Scores (f) (CM)
90-94 3 92 (90+94)/2 276 (3x92)
85-89 8 87 696
80-84 6 82 492
75-79 9 77 693
70-74 10 72 720
65-69 6 67 402
60-64 5 62 310
55-59 3 57 171
50-54 4 52 208
45-49 1 47 47
n=55 Ʃ fCM= 4,015
th
Solution:
t
THE MEDIAN
If there are n numbers in the array and n is an odd number, the median is
found by the formula, (n+1)/2. For example, if there are 11 numbers in the list,
the median is (11+1)/2 = 6th , which is the middle position in the array. If n is an
even number, then the median lies between two observations occupying the
middle portion of the distribution curve. For example, If n = 10, then the median
lies between the (10 + 1) = 5.5th observation.
Example 1
98 72 95 75 90 80 88 81 88 86 92
The middle score is the 6th score, either from the highest or from the lowest, and
it is 88.
Example 2
128 127 127 125 124 120 120 119 118 115
The scores are already in descending order. Since there are 10 scores
and is even, the middle score is the 5.5th score. The 5th score is 124 and the 6th
score is 120. Therefore, the middle score is the average of 124 and 120 which is
122. (Note that in the array, there is no score of 122, but statistically, it is the
middle score. It is the score that separates the top half from the bottom half of the
score distribution).
As what has been discussed, the median is the value that occupies the
middle position in an array of scores. Since the actual values of a data set are
lost when the frequency table was constructed, it’s only possible for us to
approximate for the value of the median from grouped data. The first step in
computing for the median is to locate the class that contains the median
observation. Then compute the median value by interpolating within the median
class on the assumption that there is an even distribution of values throughout
the class. The formula for computing the median for grouped data is:
t
푘 푘
푘
Find the value which will correspond to to determine the median class. In
൭㌱
the given scores, ൭. Find in the t column the number which is less than
or equal to 25. In the group, the cf of the median class is 23. The frequency will
be one step higher than the frequency where the median class is located, hence
푘 . The Lowest limit is one-half less than the lower limit of the interval
where the median is located. In this example the lower limit is 32 , so the lowest
limit (32-.5) = 31.5. Thus,
t
푘 푘
푘
⸱ ൭ ā
푘 ʹ൭ ൭
푘 ʹ൭ ʹ㸶
h ʹ
Example 2. Using the scores in the Math test
Test Scores Number of Students Cumulative Frequency
(f) (cf)
90-94 3 55
85-89 8 52
80-84 6 44
75-79 9 38
70-74 10 29
65-69 6 19
60-64 5 13
55-59 3 8
50-54 4 5
45-49 1 1
n=55
t
푘 푘
푘
൭ ㈷ʹ൭ 〰ā
푘 㸶〰ʹ൭ ㌱
푘 㸶〰ʹ൭ ⸱ʹ ൭
h ʹ
The Crude Mode. It can be found by mere inspection. It may not exist in
some sets of data, or there may be more than one mode in other sets of data. A
bimodal distribution should probably have two modes. Extreme scores in the
distribution do not affect the mode but this is the least reliable measure of central
tendency than mean or median.
Example 1
96 97 98 97 93 90 89 97 81 80
What is the most frequent score? Or, which score has the highest frequency?
Correct, 97 is the mode because there are 3 observations.
Example 2
92 92 90 89 89 88 87 86 85 84
In this example, the modes are 92 and 89 (bimodal). Both scores have a
frequency of 2.
Example 3
90 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81
The formula is : ht h h ā
For the English test, Median is 33.1 and the Mean is 32.22.
Therefore:
h푘r ʹ ʹ
〰〰ʹ 㸶⸱ʹ⸱⸱
. ht ʹퟖ*
For the Math test, median is 73.75 and the mean is 73.
Therefore:
h푘r ㈷ ʹ㈷൭ ㈷ ā
ʹ ൭ ⸱㸶
. ht ʹ