PSYC 2020 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Frequency Distribution, Level Of Measurement, Central Tendency

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2020
• Professor: Alistair Mapp

Document Summary

The concept of an average or representative score. Goal in measuring is to describe a distribution of scores by determining a single value that identifies the center of the distribution. Ideally, this central value will be the score that is the best representative value for all of the individuals in the distribution. Definition: central tendency is a statistical measure to determine a single score that defines the center of a distribution. The goal of central tendency is to find the single score that is most typical of most representative of the entire group. Central tendency attempts to identify the average" or typical" individual. This value can be used to provide a simple description of an entire population or a sample. Central tendency are also useful for making comparisons between groups of individuals or between sets of data. Also known as the arithmetic average - computed by adding all the scores in the distribution and dividing by the number of scores.