MEASURES OF

CENTRAL TENDENCY
1
1

• Descriptive measures that are used to

indicate where the center, the middle
property, or the most typical value of a
set of data lies.
• The most commonly used measures of
central tendency are: mean the median
and the mode.
 MEAN
• Popularly known as average is the sum of separate
scores or measures divided by the number of scores.
• Assumptions: the data must be at least interval and it is
best used with relatively large samples in which
aberrant scores will cause less distortion.
• Use for ordinal and interval data
• As a point of balance-it is based on the actual
numerical value of each observation
• Property: the sum of the differences between the
individual observation and the mean is equal to zero
• Has the most important role in estimating about the
population compared to median and mode
1. The formula for UNGROUP data is:

• Where:
• = arithmetic mean
• 𝜮 x =sum of the individual scores of
observations
• n = number of cases/observations/ sample
size
Supposed you completed five exams
1

and received the following grades:

98, 93, 87, 84, 76,
your mean score would be :
2. Formula for GROUP MEANS /grand mean
(unequal size)

• Where:
• - grand mean
• = the size of the group multiplied by its
mean
• N = the sum of all the group members
Example

Class N
A 87 65
B 92 110
C 89 85
D 96 200
E 84 60
    N = 520
1
3. Formula for WEIGHTED MEAN (ordinal
data/scales):

• Where:
• f = frequency
• x = weight or numerical scale value assigned
to the ordinal responses
• n = number of observations
 Example
Responses frequency x fx

Strongly Agree 5 5 25
Agree 12 4 48
Indifferent 7 3 21
Disagree 3 2 6
Strongly Disagree 3 1 3

  n = 30   𝜮=103
WX ̅=103/30
1

=3.43 – Agree
Interpretations of weighted mean (scales):
• Arbitrary range construct: Range =(highest scale
value-1)/(number of responses )
Range = (5-1)/5 =4/5= .80
4.20 - 5.00 = Strongly Agree
3.40 - 4.19 = Agree
2.60 – 3.39 = Indifferent
1.80 – 2.59 = Disagree
1.00 – 1.79 = Strongly Disagree
4. The formula for GROUPED
data:

• Where:
• = mean
• f= frequency
• m= midpoint/class mark
• n= number of observations
 Class Frequency (f) midpoint Fm
1 Limit
7-12 7 9.5 66.5
13-18 10 15.5 155.0
19-24 21 21.5 451.5
25-30 20 27.5 550.0
31-36 13 33.5 435.5
37-42 5 39.5 197.5
43-48 4 46 184.0
  n =80   𝜮=204
0
1

• X ̅=(Σ fm)/n
• =2040/80
• =25.5
 MEDIAN
• It is a measure that divides any distribution of
values into two identical and equal parts.
• It is the midpoint of the distribution: half of the
observations are above or below such midpoint
• Assumptions: arranging or ranking of values is
required and the data are at least equivalent to
interval measurement
• Can be use as substitute for the mean for
ungrouped and small data when there are outliers
or extreme values that are too high or too low that
may pull the average.
1. Formula for UNGROUPED
data:
md=(n+1)/2 (for odd number of observations)

Consider: 8, 10, 12, 13, 18

• md=(5+1)/2
• =6/2
• = 3rd (case/observation)
 1

(for even number of observation

• Consider: 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 18

• = 11
 Formula for GROUPED data:
(1)md=
• where:
• = indicates the position of the median class using (cf<), if
is between 2 frequencies, the class with the larger
frequency is the median class
• lmd= the exact lower limit of the median class
• cf> = cumulative frequency of all classes before the
median class
• fm= frequency of the median class
• i= class interval
1
Class frequency <cf
Limit
7-12 7 7
13-18 10 17
19-24 21 38
25-30 20 58
31-36 13 71
37-42 5 76
43-48 4 80
  n =80  
 1

= 40 (indicates the class in which the median lies)

Md =
• =
• =
• = 24.1+.6
• = 25.1

• = 25 (median point)
 MODE
The most frequently occurring observation in a
set of data
The most popular outcome of the variable
Can be used to described nominal, ordinal and
interval data

For ungroup data- just find the number repeated

the most number of times
 Formula group data:
mo = lmo+ i [d1/(d1+d2)]
• Where:
• lmo= lower class boundary of the modal class
(modal class is the class with the highest
frequency
d1 =
difference between the frequency of the modal
class and the one preceding it
• d2 = difference between the frequency of the
modal class and the one following it
• i= class interval
1

Class Limit frequency

7-12 7
13-18 10
19-24 21
25-30 20
31-36 13
37-42 5
43-48 4
  n =80
• d1= 21-10= 11
1

• d2= 21-20= 1
mo=
•=
•=
•=
• = 24.02
• = 24 (most frequently observed)
 MEASURES OF
LOCATION/POSITION

These are important measures which divide

the distribution into parts or subgroups (2,
4,10, or 100).
 QUARTILES
Score-points which divide the distribution
into four equal parts.
Twenty five percent fall below the first
quartile (Q1).
Fifty percent fall below the second quartile
(Q2 )and scoring seventy five percent is less
than third quartile Q3.
 1

•Formula: Qk=
•Where:
– indicate the location of the kth class.

L- lower boundary of the kth quartile class

i- class interval

n- sample size

cfb- cumulative
frequency before the kth quartile class
fqk- frequency of the
kthquartile class
 1

APPLICATION: Find Q1,

Get of the total number of frequencies
n/4 = 20
Find the first quartile class. The 20th is contained in
38 under column <c f. Therefore, the first quartile
class is 19-24.
Cfb =17
Fq1= 21
L = 18.5
i=6
1

Class Limit frequency <cf

7-12 7 7
13-18 10 17
19-24 21 38 (Q1)
25-30 20 58
31-36 13 71
37-42 5 76
43-49 4 80
  n =80  
Substitute the values in the formula

Q1=
Q1=
= 18.5 + 6 (3/21)
= 18.5 + 6(.14)
= 18.5 + .84
= 19.34 ⸗ 19
Finding Quartile 3

Q3=
Q3=
Q3= 30
= 30.5 + 6 (2/13)
= 30.5 + 6(.15)
= 30.5 + .92
= 31.4 ⸗ 31
1

Class Limit frequency <cf

7-12 7 7
13-18 10 17
19-24 21 38
25-30 20 58 (Q2)
31-36 13 71 (Q3)
37-42 5 76
43-49 4 80
  n =80  
 DECILES

Refer to those values that divide a distribution into

ten equal parts.
 1

•Dk=

•Where:
kn/10 – indicate the location of the kth class.

i- class interval

n- sample size

cfb- cumulative frequency

before the kth decile class
fpk-
frequency of the kth decile class
Locating 7th decile
D7=

= = 56TH

D 7th class = 25-30

cfb = 38

fp7= 20

L= 24.5

i= 6
1

Class frequency <cf

Limit
7-12 7 7
13-18 10 17
19-24 21 38
25-30 20 58 (D7th)
31-36 13 71
37-42 5 76
43-49 4 80
  n =80  
SUBSTITION
D7=

D7 =
 PERCENTILES
• Refer to those values that divide a distribution into
one hundred equal parts.
• Percentile rank n tells how much percent of the
cases got below the rank position.
• Percentile point (Pn) is the score or value that
corresponds to the given percentile rank.
•Pk=
•Where:
1

•– indicate the location of the kth class.

L- lower boundary of the kth percentile class

i- class interval

n- sample size
cfb- cumulative
frequency before the kth percentile class

fpk- frequency of the kth percentile class

 Locating 60th percentile
•P60=

= = 48 (indicates the location of

the kth class)

•60th class = 25-30

cfb = 38

fp60= 20

L= 24.5
i= 6
 1

Class frequency <cf

Limit
7-12 7 7
13-18 10 17
19-24 21 38
25-30 20 58 (P 60th)
31-36 13 71
37-42 5 76
43-49 4 80
  n =80  
Substitution
• P60=

• P60=
•
•
•
•
 MEASURES OF
DISPERSION/SPREAD
 USES

Measures the dispersion of the data from the

mean/degree of spread or variability or degree of
clustering about the central point
Emphasizes the differences in a distribution
 Identifies which group is heterogeneous or
homogeneous.
 it includes: range, average deviation, quartile
deviation, variance and standard deviation
 Variance and standard deviation are the most
reliable measures of spread because aside from taking
into account every score in the distribution, they can
be treated mathematically for deeper analysis
 APPLICATION
  CONSIDER SCORES OF 3 BARANGAYS
  A B C
  10 15 11
  10 16 13
Median 17 16 18
  18 18 18
  30 20 25
TOTAL 85 85 85
Mean 17 17 17
Variance 67 4.75 29.5
SD 8 2 5
 VARIANCE AND STANDARD
DEVIATION AND THEIR FORMULA
for ungrouped data

for grouped data

for standard deviation

 The z-score: the standard score
a value of x has a standard value
denoted by z –score, a standard
score denoted by this formula