The Definition of Statistical Measures – Central Tendency and Spread
A measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a set of data by identifying the central position within that set of data. They are also categorized as summary statistics:
- Mean: The mean is the sum of all values divided by the total number of values.
- Median: The median is the middle value. It is the value that splits the dataset in half. To find the median, order your data from smallest to largest, and then find the data point that has an equal amount of values above and below it.
- Mode: The mode is the value that occurs the most frequently in your dataset. On a bar chart, the mode is the highest bar.
Generally, the mean is a better measure to use for symmetric data while the median is a better measure for data with a skewed (left- or right-heavy) distribution. For categorical data, you have to use the mode:
Figure 3.22: A screenshot of a...
