Interpreting

Performance Data
Expected Outcomes
Understand the terms mean,
median, mode, standard deviation

Use these terms to interpret

performance data supplied by EAU
Measures of Central
Tendency
Mean the average score

Median the value that lies in the

middle after ranking all the scores

Mode the most frequently

occurring score
Measures of Central
Tendency

Which measure of Central

Tendency should be used?
Measures of Central
Tendency

The measure you choose should

give you a good indication of
the typical score in the sample
or population.
Measures of Central
Tendency
Mean the most frequently used but is
sensitive to extreme scores
e.g. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Mean = 5.5 (median = 5.5)
e.g. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20
Mean = 6.5 (median = 5.5)
e.g. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100
Mean = 14.5 (median = 5.5)
Measures of Central
Tendency
Median

is not sensitive to extreme scores

use it when you are unable to use

the mean because of extreme
scores
Measures of Central
Tendency
Mode

does not involve any calculation

or ordering of data

use it when you have categories

(e.g. occupation)
A Distribution Curve
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Mean: 54
Median: 56
Mode: 63
The Normal Distribution
Curve

In everyday life many variables such

as height, weight, shoe size and
exam marks all tend to be
normally distributed, that is, they
all tend to look like the following
curve.
The Normal Distribution Curve
Mean, Median,
0.025
Mode
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 20 40 60 80 100

It is bell-shaped and symmetrical about the

mean
The mean,
It is a median
function and
of the mode
mean are
and equal
the standard
deviation
Variation or Spread of
Distributions
Measures that indicate the spread of
scores:

Range

Standard Deviation
Variation or Spread of
Distributions
Range
It compares the minimum score with
the maximum score
Max score Min score = Range
It is a crude indication of the spread of
the scores because it does not tell us
much about the shape of the
distribution and how much the scores
vary from the mean
Variation or Spread of
Distributions
Standard Deviation
It tells us what is happening between
the minimum and maximum scores
It tells us how much the scores in the
data set vary around the mean
It is useful when we need to compare
groups using the same scale
Calculating a Mean and a Standard
Deviation
Absolute Squared
Data Deviation Deviation Deviation
x x - Mean |x - Mean| (x-Mean)
10 -20 20 400
20 -10 10 100
30 0 0 0
40 10 10 100
50 20 20 400
Sums 150 0 60 1000
Means 30 0 12 200
Variance

Standard deviation = Variance 14.1421356

Interpreting Distributions
0.03 Mean =
0.025 50
0.02 Std Dev =
0.015 15
0.01 34% 34%
2% 2%
0.005
14% 14%
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

scores
5 20 35 50 65 80 95
sd
-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
rank
0% 2% 16% 50% 84% 98% 100%
Interpreting Distributions
School A School B School C
Mean 50 60 70
S.d. 10 10 10
0
0.045
0.04
0.035
0.03
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Interpreting Distributions
School A School B School C
Mean 50 50 50
S.d. 10 13 16
0
0.045
0.04
0.035
0.03
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Interpreting Distributions
National Mean School A School B
Mean 55 60 40
S.d. 10 15 15

0.045
0.04
0.035
0.03
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
The Z-score
The z-score is a conversion of the
raw score into a standard score
based on the mean and the standard
deviation.
z-score = Raw score Mean
Standard Deviation

Example z-score
Mean = 55 65 55
Standard Deviation = 15
15 = 65 = 0.67
Raw Score
Converting z-scores into
Percentiles
Use table provided to convert the z-
score into a percentile.

z-score = 0.67
Percentile = 74.86% (from table
provided)

Interpretation: 75% of the group

scored below this score.
Comparing School
Performance with National
Performance

Z-score for Mean of School A = (60 55)/10 =

0.2
A z-score of 0.2 is equivalent to a percentile
of 57.93% on a national basis
Z-score for Mean of School B = (40 55)/10 =
-1.5
A z-score of 1.5 is equivalent to a percentile
of (100-93.32)%, that is, 6.68%!