Measures of central tendancy

Question 1

Mode

Answer 1

• Mode is the most common value (least useful).
• The smaller the range, the more accurate the mode.
• It takes into account anomalies but the mode can be two values.

Question 2

Median

Answer 2

• The middle value of the data (ranked) but has no mathematical properties.
• The median is easy but the data has to be ordered for it to work.
• It can’t be used to compare several data sets as the range will differ between sets, but if the highest and lowest figures are the same it could be useful.

Question 3

Mean

Answer 3

• The mean is the average.
• It is the most useful method but it requires a calculation, and it is unrepresentative is an anomaly is present.
• The larger the data set, the less accurate the mean is.
• The mean allows conclusions to be drawn.