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Central Tendency
• In general terms, central tendency is a statistical
measure that determines a single value that
accurately describes the center of the distribution
and represents the entire distribution of scores.
• The goal of central tendency is to identify the single
value that is the best representative for the entire
set of data.

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Central Tendency (cont.)
• By identifying the "average score," central tendency
allows researchers to summarize or condense a large set
of data into a single value.
• Thus, central tendency serves as a descriptive statistic
because it allows researchers to describe or present a
set of data in a very simplified, concise form.
• In addition, it is possible to compare two (or more) sets
of data by simply comparing the average score (central
tendency) for one set versus the average score for
another set.

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The Mean, the Median,
and the Mode
• It is essential that central tendency be determined by
an objective and well‑defined procedure so that others
will understand exactly how the "average" value was
obtained and can duplicate the process.
• No single procedure always produces a good,
representative value. Therefore, researchers have
developed three commonly used techniques for
measuring central tendency: the mean, the median,
and the mode.
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The Mean , Median and
Mode of Ungrouped Data

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The Mean of Ungrouped
Data

In which,

𝜮 = the sum of
x = any scores
n = number of scores/ population
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The Median of Ungrouped
Data
• The Median is a counting average. It is determined by
arranging the scores in order to size the counting up (or
down) to the midpoint of the set of scores or data. If the
number of scores is even, then the median will be halfway
between the two middlemost scores. When the number of
data is odd, the median is the middle score.
The median is a point that divides the scores into two equal
parts regardless the size of the individual scores. Even the
cores are extremely high or low will not affect its value
because it is a counting average
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The Mode of Ungrouped
Data
• The mode is simply the most frequent in the set and it
is determine by inspection. The mode is the least
reliable type of statistical average and it is frequently
used merely as preliminary estimate of central
tendency.
The set of scores with two modes is called bimodal
and if there are 3 modes, it is trimodal.

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Example 1:
The ABC company, 10 salesmen reported the sale of air conditioning units
for the month of April as follows: 8 , 11, 6, 14, 9, 8, 11, 16, 11, 10.
Find the Mean, Median and Mode.

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Example 2:
In an examination, the following set of scores were obtained as follows.

Find the mean , median and mode .

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The Mean , Median and
Mode of Grouped Data

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Mean of Grouped
Data
When data has been grouped in a frequency distribution, the midpoint
of each class/ class mark(x) is used as an approximation of all values
contained in the class. The symbol (x) represents for the class
midpoint /class mark. The symbol (f) represents the observed
frequency values in each respective class.

Formula :

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Example Consider the given frequency distribution test scores in
3: Algebra below, find the mean.

Class interval Class mark (x) Frequency (f) fx

45-49 47 3 141

40-44 42 8 336
35-39 37 10 370

30-34 32 12 384

25-29 27 6 162

20-24 22 4 88

15 -19 17 5 85

10-14 12 2 24
n = 50 𝜮fx = 1590 13
Median of Grouped
Data
For group data, we need to determined first the median class
and the position of the median in the class interval. The class which
contains the median is the class for which the cumulative frequency is
equal or exceeds on one half total number of observations or
population. Once it was identified the specific value of median is
determined by the :

Formula :

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Example Calculate the median of the frequency distribution in
4: example 3.

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Mode of Grouped
Data
From frequency distribution, the mode can be determined by the
formula :
Example Calculate the mode of the frequency distribution in
5: example 3.

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Example Calculate the mean, median and mode give the frequency
6: distribution below.

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Quartile, Deciles and Percentiles
The median divides a
set of data into two equal
parts. By extending the idea,
the set of data can be also
divided in four equal parts,
ten equal parts and one
hundred equal parts.

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Relationship among Quartile, Decile and
Percentile

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Formula in calculating the quartile, decile and
percentile.
Median

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Example 7. Given the table calculate the
following:
Example 7. Given the table calculate the
following:
Example 7. Given the table calculate the
following: