MEASURE OF

CENTRAL TENDENCY
MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

A measure of central tendency (also referred

to as measures of center or central location)
is a summary measure that attempts to
describe a whole set of data with a single
value that represents the middle or center of
its distribution.
MEAN
The mean (or average) is the most
popular and well known measure of
central tendency. The mean is equal
to the sum of all the values in the
data set divided by the number of
values in the data set.
Looking at the retirement age distribution:
54, 54, 54, 55, 56, 57, 57, 58, 58, 60, 60

The mean is calculated by adding together all the values

(54+54+54+55+56+57+57+58+58+60+60 = 623)

and dividing by the number of observations (11)

which equals 56.6 years.
ADVANTAGE OF THE MEAN

The mean can be used for both

continuous and discrete numeric data.

A continuous variable is a numeric variable.

Observations can take any value between a
certain set of real numbers.
A discrete variable is a numeric variable.
Observations can take a value based on a
count from a set of distinct whole values.
DISADVANTAGE OF MEAN
The mean cannot be calculated for categorical
data, as the values cannot be summed.
*Categorical data is the statistical data type consisting
of categorical variables or of data that has been
converted into that form, for example as grouped data.

As the mean includes every value in the

distribution the mean is influenced by outliers
and skewed distributions.
MEDIAN
The median is the middle score for a set
of data that has been arranged in order
of magnitude. The median is less
affected by outliers and skewed data.
Looking at the retirement age distribution
(which has 11 observations)

54, 54, 54, 55, 56, 57, 57, 58, 58, 60, 60

The median is the middle value, which is 57 years

When the distribution has an even number of

observations, the median value is the mean of the two
middle values.
ADVANTAGES OF MEDIAN

The median is less affected by outliers and skewed

data than the mean, and is usually the preferred
measure of central tendency when the distribution is
not symmetrical.

DISADVANTAGE OF MEDIAN
The median cannot be identified for categorical
nominal data, as it cannot be logically ordered.
MODE
The mode is the most frequent score in our
data set. On a histogram it represents the
highest bar in a bar chart or histogram. You
can, therefore, sometimes consider the mode
as being the most popular option.
Consider this dataset showing the retirement age of
11 people, in whole years:

54, 54, 54, 55, 56, 57, 57, 58, 58, 60, 60

Age Frequency
54 3
The most commonly occurring
55 1
value is 54, therefore the mode
56 1
of this distribution is 54 years.
57 2
58 2
60 2
ADVANTAGES OF MODE

The mode has an advantage over the median and

the mean as it can be found for both numerical
and categorical (non-numerical) data.

DISADVANTAGE OF MODE
The are some limitations to using the mode. When the
distribution of retirement age is ordered from lowest to
highest value, it is easy to see that the center of the
distribution is 57 years, but the mode is lower, at 54
years.