MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

Measure of central tendency provides a very convenient way of describing a set of scores
with a single number that describes the performance of the group. It is also defined as a single
value that is used to describe the “center” of the data. It is thought of as a typical value in a
given distribution. There are commonly use measures of central tendency. These are the mean,
median, and mode.

1. Mean
Mean is the most commonly used measure of the center of data and it is also referred as
the “arithmetic average”.

Example: Scores of 15 students in Mathematics I quiz consist of 25 items. The highest

score is 25 and the lowest score is 10. Here are the scores: 25, 20, 18, 18, 17, 15, 15, 15,
14, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10, 10. Find the mean.

Analysis: The average performance of 15 students who participated in a mathematics

quiz consisting of 25 items is 15.2. The implication of this is that student who got the
scores below 15.2 did not perform well in the said examination. Students who got scores
higher than 15.2 performed well in the examination compared to the performance of the
whole class.

Properties of the Mean

1. It measures stability. Mean is the most stable among other measures of central
tendency because every score contribute to the value of the mean.
2. The sum of each score’s distance from the mean is zero.
3. It is easily affected by the extreme scores.
4. It may not be an actual score in the distribution.
5. It can be applied to interval level of measurement.
6. It is very easy to compute.

When to Use the Mean

1. Sampling stability is desired.
2. Other measures are to be computed such as standard deviation, coefficient of
variation and skewness.

2. Median
Median is the second type of measures of central tendency. Median is what divides the
score in the distribution into two equal parts. Fifty percent (50%) lies below the median
value and (50%) lies above the median value. It is also known as the middle score or the
50th percentile. For classroom purposes, the first thing to do is to arrange the scores in
proper order. That is to arrange the scores from lowest score to highest score or highest
score to lowest score. When the number cases are odd, the median is a score that has
the same number of scores below and above it. When the scores are even, determine the
average of the two middle most scores that have equal number of scores below and
above it.
 Example: Find the median score of 7 students in an English class. The scores are: 19, 17, 16,
15, 10, 5, 2.

Analysis: The median score is 15. Fifty percent (50%) or three of the scores are above 15(19,
17, 16) and 50% or three of the scores are below 15 (10, 5, 2).

Properties of the Median

1. It may not be an actual observation in the data set.
2. It can be applied in ordinal level.
3. It is not affected by extreme values because median is a positional measure.

When to Use the Median

1. The exact midpoint of the score distribution is desired.
2. There are extreme scores in the distribution.

3. Mode
Mode is the third measure of central tendency. The mode or the modal score is a score
or scores that occurred most in the distribution. It is classified as unimodal, bimodal, and
trimodal and multimodal. Unimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of only one
mode. Bimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of two modes. Trimodal is a
distribution of scores that consists of three modes or multimodal is a distribution of
scores that consists of more than two modes.

Example: Find the mode in the scores of 10 students in Section A, Section B, Section C.
Scores of Section A: 25, 24, 24, 20, 20, 20, 16, 12, 10, 7.
Scores of Section B: 25, 24, 24, 20, 18, 18, 17, 10, 9, 7.
Scores of Section C: 25, 25, 25, 22, 21, 21, 21, 18, 18, 18.

Analysis: The score that appeared most in section A is 20, hence, the mode of section A
is 20. There is only one mode, therefore, score distribution is called unimodal. The modes
of section B are 18 and 24, since both 18 and 24 appeared twice. There are two modes in
section B, hence, the distribution is a bimodal distribution. The modes for section C are
18, 21, and 25. There are three modes for section C, therefore, it is called a trimodal or
multimodal distribution.

Properties of the Mode

1. It can be used when the data are qualitative as well as quantitative.
2. It may not be unique.
3. It is not affected by extreme values.
4. It may not exist.

When to Use the Mode

1. When the “typical” value is desired.
2. When the data set is measured on a nominal scale.
 MEASURES OF VARIATION

Measure of variation is a single value that is used to describe the spread of the scores in
a distribution. The term variation is also known as variability or dispersion. There are several
ways of describing the variation of scores: absolute measures of variation and relative measures
of variation.

Types of Absolute Measures of Variation

1. Range
Range (R) is the difference between the highest score and the lowest score in a
distribution. Range is the simplest and the crudest measure of variation, simplest
because we shall only consider the highest score and the lowest score.
Example: Given the scores of group A: 10,12,15,17,25,26,28,30,35 and group B: 15,
16,16,17,17,23,25,26,30. Find the range of the two groups.

Analysis: The range of group A = 25 is greater than the range of group B= 15. The
implication of this is that the scores in group A are more spread out than the scores in
group B or the scores in group B less scattered than the scores in group A.

Properties of Range
1. It is quick and easy to understand
2. It is rough estimation of variation
3. It is easily affected by the extreme of scores.
Interpretation of range value: When the range value is large, the scores in the
distribution are more dispersed, widespread or heterogeneous. On the other hand, when
the range value is small the score in the distribution are less dispersed, less scattered, or
homogeneous.

2. Inter-quartile Range (IQR) and quartile deviation

Inter-quartile range is the difference between the third quartile and the first quartile.
The formula is IQR = 𝑄3 − 𝑄1
Properties of Inter-quartile Range
1. Reduces the influence of extreme values.
2. Not as easy to calculate as the range.
3. Only considers the middle 50% of the scores in the distribution.
4. The point of dispersion is the median value.

Quartile deviation indicates the distance we need to go above and below the median to
include the middle 50% of the scores. It is based on the range of the middle 50% of
scores, instead of the range of the entire set.
𝑄 −𝑄
The formula is 𝑄𝐷 = 3 2 1

Interpretation: The larger the value of the IQR or QD, the more dispersed the scores at
the middle 50% of the distribution. On the other hand, if the IQR or QD is small, the
scores are less dispersed at the middle 50% of the distribution. The point of dispersion is
the median value.
 Analysis: When the value of IQR and QD is small, the scores are clustered within the
middle 50% of the score distribution. On the other hand, the scores are dispersed in the
middle 50% of the distribution when the value of IQR and QD. To determine which
group of distribution is more clustered or dispersed you should compare it with another
group of distribution since there is no standard value of a small or large value of IQR and
QD.

3. Mean Deviation (MD)

Mean deviation measures the average deviation of the values from the arithmetic mean.
It gives equal weight to the deviation of every score in the distribution.

Example: Find the mean deviation of the scores of 10 students in a mathematics test.
Given the scores: 35,30,26,24, 20, 18, 18, 16, 15, 10.
Analysis: Mean deviation means that on the average, the value indicates the deviation of
scores from the mean. The value deviated from the mean of 21.2 is 6.04.

4. Variance and Standard Deviation

Variance is one of the most important measures of variation. It shows variation about
the mean.
Note: If the standard deviation is already solved, square the value of the standard
deviation to get the variance.

Standard deviation is the most important measures of variation. It is also known as the
square root of the variance. It is the average distance of all the scores that deviates from
the mean value.
Note: If the variance is already solved, take the square root of the variance to get the
value of the standard deviation.

Interpretation of standard deviation

1. If the value of the standard deviation is large, on the average, the scores in the
distribution will be far from the mean. Therefore, the scores are spread out around the
mean value. The distribution is also known as heterogeneous.
2. If the value of standard deviation is small, on the average, the scores in the distribution
will be close to the mean. Hence, the scores are less dispersed or the scores in the
distribution are homogeneous.

Properties of Variance and Standard Deviation

1. The most commonly used measures of variation most especially in research.
2. It shows variation of the individual scores about the mean.

Relative Measure of Variation

Coefficient of variation shows variation relative to the mean, It is used to compare two
or more groups of distribution of scores. Usually expressed in percent, the smaller the
value of the coefficient of variation the more homogeneous the scores in that particular
group. On the other hand, the higher the value of the coefficient of variation the more
dispersed the scores in that particular distribution.
 𝑠
The formula is 𝐶𝑉 = (𝑥) 100%
Example: Find the coefficient of variation given the scores
Section A:12,12,14,15,17,18,18,18,19,23,23,30. Mean= 18.25; S= 5.15; CV= _________
Section B: 12,12,12,13,13,14,17,20,20,28,28,30. Mean= 18.25; S= 6.92; CV= ________
Section C: 12,12,12,12,12,12,13,26,26,26,26,30. Mean= 18.25; S= 7.63; CV= ________

Analysis: The scores in section A are less scattered than the scores in section B and
Section C. In other words, scores in section A are more homogeneous than the scores in
section B and section C. Another way to interpret this is, the scores in section C are more
spread out than the scores in section A and section B, or the scores in section C are more
heterogeneous than the scores in section A and section B.

MEASURES OF SKEWNESS

Measure of skewness described the degree of departure of the scores from symmetry.
3(𝑥̅ −𝑥̃)
The skewness coefficient (sk ) can be solved using the formula: 𝑠𝑘 =
𝑠

Skewness can be classified according to the skewness coefficient. If 𝑠𝑘 > 0, it is called

positively skewed distribution. When 𝑠𝑘 < 0, it is negatively skewed distribution. However, if
𝑠𝑘 = 0, the scores are normally distributed. The skewness of a score distribution indicates not
only the performance of the students but the reasons about their performance.

Positively skewed or skewed to the right is a distribution where the thin end tail of the
graph goes to the right part of the curve. This happens when most of the scores of the students
are below the mean.
Negatively skewed or skewed to the left is a distribution where the thin end tail of the
graph goes to the left part of the curve. This happens when most scores got by the students are
above the mean.
In a classroom testing, a positively skewed distribution means that the students who
took the examination did very poor. Most of the students got a very low score and only few
students got a high score. Positively skewed distribution tells you only on the poor performance
of the test takers but not the reasons why the students did poorly in the said examination. Poor
performance of the students could be attributed to the following: ineffective methods of
teaching and instruction, students’ unpreparedness to take the examination, test items are very
difficult, and there is no enough time to answer the test items.
Negatively skewed distribution means that the students who took the examination
performed well. Most of the scores are high and there are only few low scores. The shape of the
score distribution indicates the performance of the students but not the reasons why most of
the students got high scores. The possible reasons why students got high score are: the group
of students is smart, there is enough time to finish the examination, the test items are very easy,
and there is an effective instruction and the students have prepared themselves for the
examination.

Example 1: Find the coefficient of skewness of the scores of 40 grade 6 pupils in a 100-item test
in mathematics if the mean is 82 and the median is 90 with standard deviation of 15.
Analysis: The sk= -1.60, the value of sk is negative, meaning the score distribution is negatively
skewed. Most of the scores are high, this means that the students have performed excellently in
the said examination.

Example 2: find the coefficient of skewness of the scores of 45 grade 6 pupils in a 50-item test in
Biology, if the mean is 46 and the median is 40 with standard deviation of 7.5.

Analysis: the sk = 2.40, the value of sk is positive, meaning the score distribution is positively
skewed. Most of the scores are below the mean. This means that the students did not perform
well in the said examination.

Normal distribution
Normal distribution is a special kind of symmetric distribution and it represents some
properties in mathematics. It is very important when comparing between scores and making
statistical decisions. It can be determined using the values of the mean and standard deviation.
It is also centered at the mean of the variable and its variation will depend on the value of its
standard deviation. The smaller the value of the standard deviation, the steeper the score
distribution and less dispersed.

Properties of Normal Distribution

1. The curve has a single peak, meaning the distribution is unimodal.
2. It is a bell-shaped curve.
3. It is symmetrical to the mean.
4. The end tails of the curve can be extended indefinitely in both sides and asymptotic to the
horizontal line.
5. The shape of the curve will depend on the value of the mean and standard deviation
6. The total area under the curve is 1.0. Hence, the area of the curve in each side of the mean
is 0.5.
7. The probability between two given points in the curve is equal to the area between the two
points.

DESCRIBING INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

Types of Standard Scores

1. z-scores
The z-score is used to convert a raw score to standard score to determine how far a raw
score lies from the mean in standard deviation units. From this we can also determine
whether an individual student performs well in the examination compared to the
performance of the whole class. The z-score value indicates the distance between the
given raw score and the mean value in units of standard deviation. The z-value is positive
when the raw score is above the mean while the z is negative when the raw score is
below the mean.
𝑥−µ 𝑥−𝑥̅
The formula is: = Ơ 𝑜𝑟 𝑧 = 𝑠 ; where z=z-value; x=raw score; s= sample standard
deviation 𝑥̅ = sample mean; Ơ = population of standard deviation; µ = population
mean
 Example: Using the data about Ritz Glenn’s scores in Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga 7 and
Science 7, solve the z-score value.
Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga 7: x = 92; 𝑥̅ = 95; s = 3 ; z-value = _________
Science 7: x = 88; 𝑥̅ = 80; s =4 ; z-value = _________
Analysis: The score of Ritz Glenn in Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga 7 is one unit standard
deviation below the mean. His score in Science 7 is two units standard deviation above
the mean. Therefore, we can conclude that Ritz Glenn performed better in Science 7 than
in Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga 7.

2. T-scores
T-score is another type of standard score where the mean is 50 and the standard
deviation is 10. In z-score the mean is 0 and the standard deviation is one (1). To convert
raw score to T- score, find first the z- score equivalent of the raw score and use the
formula T-score = 10z + 50.
Example: The z- score of Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga 7 is -1 and the z-score of
Science 7 is +2, solve the T-score equivalent:
Analysis: z-score of -1 is equivalent to a T-score of _____, and z-score of +2 is equivalent
to a T- score of _____. The negative value is eliminated in the T- score equivalent.
Therefore, Ritz Glenn performed better in Science 7 than in Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga 7.

3. Standard Nine
The third type of standard score is standard nine point scale which is also known as
stanine, A stanine is a nine-point grading scale ranging from 1 to 9, 1 being the lowest
and 9 the highest. Stanine grading is easier to understand than the other standard score
model. The descriptive interpretation of stanine 1,2,3 is below average, the stanine 4,5,6
is interpreted as average and 7,8,9 is above average.
The given figure below indicates the percentage of scores in each stanine and the
corresponding descriptions.

Stanine Percentage of Description

Scores
1 4% Very Poor
2 7% Poor
3 12% Below Average
4 17% Slightly Below Average
5 20% Average
6 17% Slightly Above Average
7 12% Considerably Above
Average
8 7% Superior
4% Very Superior
9
4. Percentile Rank

Another way of converting a raw score to standard score is the percentile rank. A
percentile rank indicates the percentage of scores that lies below a given score. Example,
a test score which is greater than 95% of scores of the examinees is said to be 95th
percentile. If the scores are normally distributed, percentile rank can be inferred from the
standard score.
𝐶𝐹𝑏 +0.5𝐹𝑔
The formula is: 𝑃𝑟 = ( 𝑛
) × 100

Examples:

1. A raw score of 45 is equal to percentile rank of 99. This means that 99% of the
students who took the examination had raw scores equal to or lower than 45. This can be
written as 𝑃𝑟99 = 45.

2. A raw score of 43 is equal to a percentile rank of 95. This means that 95% of the
students who took the examination had raw scores equal to or lower than 43. This can be
written as 𝑃𝑟95 = 43.

3. A raw score of 42 is equal to a percentile rank of 90. This means that 90% of the
students who took the examination had raw scores equal to or lower than 43. This can be
written as 𝑃𝑟90 = 42.

DESCRIBING RELATIONSHIPS

Correlation refers to the extent to which the distributions are linearly related or associated
between the two variables. The extent of correlation is indicated numerically by the coefficient of
correlation (𝑟𝑥𝑦 ). The correlation coefficient also known as Pearson Product Moment Correlation
Coefficient in honor to Karl Pearson who developed the said formula. The correlation coefficient
ranges from -1 to +1.

(𝑛)(Ʃ𝑥𝑦)−(Ʃ𝑥)(Ʃ𝑦)
The formula is: 𝑟𝑥𝑦 =
√[(𝑛)(Ʃ𝑥 2 )−(Ʃ𝑥)2 ][(𝑛)(Ʃ𝑦 2 )−(Ʃ𝑦)2 ]

Example: Find the correlation coefficient of the scores of 10 students in mathematics quiz and
science quiz.
Scores in math: 35,15,11,35,45,28,30,15,45,40
Scores in science: 41,25,19,39,40,30,26,23,48,42

Analysis: The value of the correlation coefficient is 𝑟𝑥𝑦 = _________, which means that there is a
very high positive correlation between the scores of 10 students in mathematics and in science.
This means that students who are good in mathematics are also good in science.
Types of Correlation

1. Positive Correlation
High scores in distribution x are associated with high scores in distribution y. Low scores
in distribution x are associated with low scores in distribution y. This means that as the value of x
increases the value of y increases too or as the value of x decreases, the y values will also
decrease. The line that best fitted to the given points upward to the right as shown in the scatter
gram of positive correlations. The slope of the line is positive.

2. Negative Correlation
High scores in distribution x are associated with low scores in distribution y. Low scores in
distribution x are associated with high scores in distribution y. this means that as the values of x
increase, the values of y decrease or when the values of x decrease, the values of y increase. The
line that best fitted to the given points downward to the right as shown in the scatter gram of
negative correlations. The slope of the line is negative.

3. Zero Correlation
No association between scores in distribution x and scores in distribution y. No single
line can be drawn that best fitted to all points as shown in the scatter gram of zero correlation.
No discernable pattern can be formed.

Spearman rho Coefficient (ρ) is a measure of correlation when the given sets of data are
expressed in ordinal level of measurement rather than raw scores as n Pearson r. Spearman rho
6Ʃ𝐷2
is used to identify a rank difference correlation. The formula is : ρ = 1 − .
𝑁(𝑁2 −1)

Example: Ten (10) aspirants of the Gabuyo Scholarship at YAG University were in their
mathematics scores and English scores.
Math scores: 45,47,39,37,33,40,15,46,25,44
Science scores: 50,45,35,41,38,39,25,49,40,42

Analysis: The ρ value is _______, which indicates a high positive correlation between the
mathematics scores and science scores of ten aspirants in the Gabuyo Scholarship. The students
who are good in mathematics are also good in science.