COURSE CODE: EFN 5306

COURSE TITLE: CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

PREPARED BY

DR. LEYLAND F. THOMPSON

ROOM No: F26

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Lesson 10: Describing Scores with Statistics

Measures of Central Tendency

A measure of Central Tendency is simply an average or typical value in a set of scores. In statistics this
type of average is call the mean and is represented by the letter M (or X̅). Two other commonly used
measures of Central Tendency are the median (represented by Mdn) and the mode. The median is the
midpoint of a set of scores, that is, the point on either side of which half of the scores occur. The mode
is the score that occurs most frequently.

Mean (M or X̅)

In which

= the sum
X = any score
N = number of scores

Table 1: Score
(X)
40
36
50% of scores 33
33
32
30
Median = 29
28
28 Mode = 28
50% of scores 28
27
25
20

1
 360

= = 30

The Median (Mdn) is the counting average. It is determined by arranging the scores in order of size and counting
up to (or down to) the midpoint of the set of scores. If the number of scores is even as in the Example provided,
the median will be halfway between the two middlemost scores. When the number of scores is odd, the median is
the middle score. The median is a point that divides a set of scores into equal halves, and thus the same number of
scores fall above the median as below the median, regardless of the size of the individual scores. Because it is the
counting average, an extremely high or low score will not affect its value.

The Mode is the most frequent or popular score in the set and is determined by inspection. The mode is the least
reliable type of statistical average and is frequently used merely as a preliminary estimate of central tendency. A
set of scores sometimes has two modes and is called bimodal.

Measures of Variability

A set of scores can be more adequately described if we know how much they spread out above and below the
measure of central tendency. For example, we might have two groups of students with a mean IQ of 110, but in
one group, the span of IQ’s is from 100 to 120, and the other, the span is from 80 to 140. These represent quite
different ability groups. We can identify such differences by the numbers that indicate how much scores spread
out in a group. These are called measures of variability. The three most commonly used measures of variability are
the range, the quartile deviation and the standard deviation.

The Range is the simplest measure of variability and it is calculated by subtracting the lowest score from the
highest score.

The Quartile Deviation (Q) is based on the range of the middle 50 percent of the scores, instead of the range of the
entire set. The middle 50 percent of a set of scores is called the interquartile range, and the quartile deviation is
half of this range. The quartile deviation is also called the semi-interquartile range.

 99 97 95 90 85 80: 75 70 65 60 55: 50: 45 40 35 39 25: 20 15 10 5 3 1

The Standard Deviation (SD, s or σ) is the most useful measure of variability or spread of scores and is the average
of the degree to which a set of scores deviates from the mean.

Calculating Standard Deviation

Score Deviation Dev. Square

(X) (x) (x2)

40 +10 100

36 +6 36

33 +3 9

33 +3 9

2
 32 +2 4

30 0 0

28 -2 4

28 -2 4

28 -2 4

27 -3 9

25 -5 25

20 -10 100

M = 30 x2 = 304

SD =

SD =

SD =

SD = 5.03

Practice Exercise

Find the mean and standard deviation of the following ten (10) marks:

67, 79, 75, 82, 78, 76, 60, 61, 59, 53

END OF UNIT 10: LESSON 10