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Lesson 7 MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY AND

DISPERSION/VARIATION

Course Outcomes:

 perform analytical activities in comprehending the fundamental principles of

assigning student grades and grading system implementation (P.O.C.c);
(P.O.D.d); (P.O.E.c)

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO’s)

The students will be able to…

 explain the meaning and uses of the Measures of Central Tendency and
Dispersion; (CLO.S.3)
 compute the Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion manually and in
excel; and (CLO.S.3)
 interpret the data score through normal and skewed score distributions
(CLO.S.3)

INTRODUCTION

 Have you ever wondered why a certain size of a pair shoes or a brand of shirt is
made more available than the other sizes?
 Have you asked yourself why a certain basketball player gets more playing time than
the rest of his teammates?
 Have you thought of comparing your academic performance with your classmates'?
Have you wondered what score you need for each subject area to qualify for
honors? Have you, at a certain time, asked yourself how norms and standards are
made?
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In this module you will find out the measures of central tendency and measures of
dispersion / variability. Remember to search for the answer to the following question(s):

 How can I make use of the representations and descriptions of a given set of data?
 What is the best way to measure a given set of data?

In this module, you will examine these questions when you study the following lessons.
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True or False? In Exercises 1– 4, determine whether the statement is true or false. If it

is false, rewrite it as a true statement.

1. The mean is the measure of central tendency most likely to be affected by an outlier.
2. Some quantitative data sets do not have medians.
3. A data set can have the same mean, median, and mode.
4. About one-quarter of a data set falls below Q1.
5. The second quartile is the mean of an ordered data set.
6. An outlier is any number above Q3 or below Q1.
7. It is impossible to have a z-score of 0.\
8. Median is the most reliable measure of central tendency.

In Exercises 9 –12, determine whether the approximate shape of the distribution in the
histogram is symmetric, uniform, skewed left, skewed right, or none of these. Justify
your answer.

In Exercises 9–10, find the mean, the median, and the mode of the data, if possible. If
any measure cannot be found or does not represent the center of the data, explain why.

9. College Credits The numbers of credits being taken by a sample of 13 full-time

college students for a semester.
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10. Grade Point Averages The average undergraduate grade point average (GPA) for
the 25 top-ranked medical schools is listed below.

11. Populations of Selected Cities Populations for towns and cities of 5000 or more
(based on the 2004 figures) in the 15XXX zip code area are listed here for two
different years. Find the mean, median, mode, and midrange for each set of data.
What do your findings suggest?

In Exercises 12–14, find the weighted mean of the data.

12. Final Grade The scores and their percents of the final grade for a statistics student
are shown below. What is the student’s mean score?

13. Grades A student receives the grades shown below, with an A worth 4 points, a B
worth 3 points, a C worth 2 points, and a D worth 1 point. What is the student’s
mean grade point score?
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14. Final Grade An instructor grades exams, 20%; term paper, 30%; final exam, 50%. A
student had grades of 83, 72, and 90, respectively, for exams, term paper, and final
exam. Find the student’s final average. Use the weighted mean.

In Exercises 15-16, find the range, mean, variance, and standard deviation of the
population data set.

15. Pregnancy Durations The durations (in days) of pregnancies for a random sample of
mothers

16. Graphical Reasoning Both data sets shown in the stem-and-leaf plots have a mean
of 165. One has a standard deviation of 16, and the other has a standard deviation
of 24. By looking at the stem-and-leaf plots, which is which? Explain your reasoning.

In Exercises 17, make a frequency distribution for the data. Then use the table to
estimate the sample mean and the sample standard deviation of the data set.

17. Weekly Study Hours The distribution of the numbers of hours that a random
sample of college students study per week is shown in the pie chart. Use 32 as the
midpoint for “30+ hours.”
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In Exercises 18, find the coefficient of variation for each of the two data sets. Then
compare the results.

18. SAT Scores Sample SAT scores for eight males and eight females are listed.

19. Work Hours for College Faculty The average full-time faculty member in a post-
secondary degree-granting institution works an average of 53 hours per week.
a) If we assume the standard deviation is 2.8 hours,what percentage of faculty
members work more than 58.6 hours a week?
b) If we assume a bell-shaped distribution, what percentage of faculty members
work more than 58.6 hours a week?

In Exercises 20–23, use the data set, which represents the ages of 30 executives.

20. Find the percentile that corresponds to an age of 40 years old.

21. Find the percentile that corresponds to an age of 56 years old.
22. Which ages are above the 75th percentile?
23. Which ages are below the 25th percentile?

24. If the mean of five values is 8.2 and four of the values are 6, 10, 7, and 12, find the
fifth value.
25. Find the mean of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50.
a. Add 10 to each value and find the mean. 40
b. Subtract 10 from each value and find the mean. 20
c. Multiply each value by 10 and find the mean. 300
d. Divide each value by 10 and find the mean. 3
e. Make a general statement about each situation.
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REFERENCES:

Bluman, A. G. (2008). Elementary Statistics: A Step by Step Approach, 7th Edition (7th
ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Larson, R., & Farber, B. (2011). Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World (5th Edition)
(5th ed.). Addison Wesley.