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SCOPE
MODE
MEDIAN
STANDARD DEVIATION
INTREPRETATION OF DATA
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Mean, Median, Mode (Measures of Central Tendency)

A measure of central tendency is an average value in a set
of scores.
There are three types of measures of central tendency:
mean,
median and
mode.

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Mean
Mean is the most commonly used measure of central
tendency.
What is mean?
EXAMPLE :
adding all of the scores in a set and dividing this sum by
the number of scores is called mean. For example, the
mean for scores 70, 85 and 100 in a test is:
70+85+100 = 85
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Median
is the middle score when the total number of scores is odd
or
the average of the two middle scores if the total number of
scores is even in an ascending order of distribution.
Example 1: (ascending order)
SCORES : 35, 40, 56, 70, 94

Median
Example 2: (ascending order)
SCORES: 45, 55, 62, 76, 80, 96
Median = (62+76)/2 = 138/2 = 69
Data can also be arranged in
descending order
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Median
5

Mode is the score that has the highest frequency in a

distribution. A distribution may have one or more modes.
However, it may not have a mode at all.
Example 1:

76, 55, 34, 80, 60, 95, 70

No mode

Example 2:

86, 70, 59, 70, 75, 68, 70

Mode = 70 (unimodal)

Example 3:

76, 62, 54, 68, 62, 54, 88, 71

Mode= 54, 62 (bimodal)
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Which set of data has ONE MODE?

A

9, 12, 16, 9, 7, 17, 18

14, 8, 10, 7, 18

9, 11, 16, 8, 16
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Which set of data has NO MODE?

A

9, 11, 16, 6, 7, 17, 18

18, 7, 10, 7, 18

13, 12, 12, 11, 12

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Which set of data has

MORE THAN ONE MODE?
A
B
C

9, 11, 16, 8, 16
9, 11, 16, 6, 7, 17, 18

18, 7, 10, 7, 18
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Find the.

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11
11.5
10,13
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Mode
The mode is the most frequent or popular score in the population. This is usually evident
during the drawing of frequency tables. It is not frequently used as the median and mean in
the classroom because :
1.There may be more than one mode
2.There may be no mode at all if none of the data is the same
3.It may not accurately represent the data

Median
This is the middle score after all the scores have been arranged in order of magnitude i.e.
50% of the score are on either side of it. What is the drawback of using median :
Takes a long time to calculate for a very large set of data
Mean
This is the average of all the scores and it is obtained by adding the scores
together and dividing the sum by the number of scores. Is it useful ???
Very large or very small numbers can distort the answer. However it is still more
accurate than median and mode in terms of calculation on distribution of scores .
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If in a class of nine students :

the scores are 29, 85, 78, 73, 40, 35, 20, 10 and 5.
Find the
a)mean.
b)mode
c)median
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Standard Deviation
Besides knowing the measures of central tendency, one
has to know how spread out the scores are. One way is to
determine the standard deviation.
_

Standard Deviation, =

(X X )

Interpretation of Standard Deviation Values

The smaller the value of standard deviation, the smaller the
spread of the distribution and this implies the data are closer
to each other (homogeneous); the bigger the s.d., the more
heterogeneous the data is.
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Consider the following example for the calculation of

standard deviation for the following data:
The score of 5 students are 1, 2 , 3, 4 and 5.
Mean, X = 15/5 = 3
Standard Deviation, =
Score (X)

( X - X)

2
(
X

X
)

=
( X - X )2
4

4
3
2
1
N=5
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(X - X )2 =
17

Consider the following example for the calculation of

standard deviation for the following data:
The score of 5 students are 1, 2 , 3, 4 and 5.
Mean, X = 15/5 = 3
Standard Deviation, =

Score (X)

_
( X - X)

( X - X )2

-1

-2

N=5

2
(
X

X
)

= 1.414

10
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(X - X )2 =

18

Students
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
total

Marks
obtained
(x)
20
45
39
40
42
48
30
46
41

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Data can be "distributed" (spread out) in different ways

It can be spread out
more on the left

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Or more on the right

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Or it can be all jumbled up

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Normal Distribution Curve

A Normal Distribution Curve is a bell-shaped curve when the scores are
normally distributed. The area under the curve represents all (100%) of
the scores and 50% of the scores are above the mean and 50% of the
scores are below the mean.

Figure 8: A Normal Distribution Curve

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It must also be noted that the value

for the mean, the median, and the
mode are the same. Most scores
are near the mean and the further
from the mean a score is the fewer
the number of persons who attain
that score.

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A bell curve follows the 68-95-99.7 rule,

which provides a convenient way to carry
out estimated calculations:
Approximately 68% of all of the data lies
within one standard deviation of the mean.

Approximately 95% of all the data is within

two standard deviations of the mean.

Approximately 99.7% of the data is within

three standard deviations of the mean.

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Example: 95% of students at school are between 1.1m and 1.7m tall.
Assuming this data is normally distributed can you calculate the mean and
standard deviation? The mean is halfway between 1.1m and 1.7m:
Mean = (1.1m + 1.7m) / 2 = 1.4m
95% is 2 standard deviations either side of the mean (a total of 4 standard
deviations) so:
1 standard deviation = (1.7m-1.1m) / 4
= 0.6m / 4
= 0.15m
And this is the result:

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Standard Scores (z-score and T-score)

A standard score expresses the position of an individual
score in terms of how many standard deviations the score
is above or below the mean of the distribution. It is usually
represented by z-score or T-score.
z-score is computed by using the following formula:

(X X )
z=

T-score is computed by using the following formula:

T = 50dsg/21.7.15
+ 10z

30

Example:
The scores for Intan, Dharani, Hazrul, Naidu and Conrad in
a test are 5, 8, 10, 4 and 3 respectively. Find the z-score
and T-score for Hazrul.

(X X )
z=

T = 50 + 10z

= (5 + 8 + 10 + 4 + 3)/5 = 6

Std. dev. = 2.61

z-score = (10-6)/2.61 = 1.54

T-score = 50 + 10z = 50 + 10(1.54) = 65.4

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A Z score (also known as a z value, standard score, and normal score) is used to
describe a particular score in terms of where it fits into an overall group of scores. In
other words, a Z score is an ordinary score transformed so that it better describes the
location of that score in a distribution.
A Z score has a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one.
T Scores
T scores are used to tell individuals how far their score is from the mean. T scores
have a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10.
Therefore, if a students raw score was converted to a T score and their T score was
70 it would in turn mean that their score was 20 points above the mean.
One advantage of using a T score over a z score is that T scores are relatively easy to
explain to parents when reporting the students assessment scores.

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Why standardize ??? It helps us to make decisions ..

Example: Ms Sally is marking a test.
Here are the students results (out of 60 points):
20, 15, 26, 32, 18, 28, 35, 14, 26, 22, 17
Most students didn't even get 30 out of 60, and most will fail.
The test must have been really hard, so the Ms Sally decides to Standardize all
the scores and only fail people.. 1 standard deviation below the mean.
The Mean is 23, and the Standard Deviation is 6.6, and these are the Standard
Scores:
-0.45, -1.21, 0.45, 1.36, -0.76, 0.76, 1.82, -1.36, 0.45, -0.15, -0.91

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dsg/21.7.15

16.4

scores

Standard
scores

20

-0.45

15

-1.21

26

0.45

32

1.36

18

-0.76

28

0.76

35

1.82

14

-1.36

26

0.45

22

-0.15

17

-0.91

29.6
23

Only 2 students will fail (the ones who scored 15 and 14 on the test)

34

Tutorial task
Slide 17
Handouts

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