PSYC 21621 Lecture 6: Median and Mode
28 Jan 2019
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Why use mean: most preferred method, use every score = most representative, use the values of scores, closely related to other descriptive statistics. When the mean won"t work: extreme scores: outliers, nominal scale and ordinal (rank) scale. Changing a score: stays on the same half: median stays the same, switches halves: median changes. Adding or removing a score: what happens, median changes. Reorder and determine median: add/subtract/multiply/divide each score, what happens, all scores change in the same way, so the median changes in the exact same way. The median when to use: the median is relatively unaffected by extreme scores, thus, the median tends to stay in the center , ordinal scale, determine order not distance, good when distribution is skewed. When does the median not work: cannot be use with nominal data, assumes rank or order to scores, doesn"t take all data into account.
