Professional Documents
Culture Documents
average. In this case, as with all skewed distributions, the median, which for
this distribution is 107.50, is a far more accurate indicator of true
centrality than was the mean. Point out that when the distribution is skewed
to the left, as in the above scores, the mean is going to severely
underestimate the true centrality.
Have the students graph the above distribution to again reinforce what the
shape of a skewed distribution looks like. If equal intervals are chosen for
the base line (abscissa), the graph will have to be extremely wide to fit all
the values in. Also, point out that the median remains at 107.50 whether the
low score had been 15 or 105. However if the low score were changed to 105 the
mean would then jump to 107.75. Changing that one score caused the mean to
gyrate, but the median remained rock steady at 107.5.
Activity: Averaging Averages?
Sometimes students will intuitively assume that to get the mean of two sets of
scores, all they have to do is average the two means. This of course is only
true if both sets of scores have equal numbers of cases. But show them that
with unequal numbers of cases, averaging the means can be a big mistake. For
example, the following distribution 16,12,12,11,10,9,9,7,4 adds up to 90, with
a mean of 10. A second distribution, 10,8,8,8,8,6 adds up to 48, with a mean
of 8. The mean of the two distributions combined is 9.20, not the average of
the two means which would have been 9. You can, however, teach students to do
this correctly without going back and adding all the scores. Show them that
since the mean, M, is = to X/N, then X = the M times N, or (M)(N). X for the
first distribution is then equal to (M)(N) or (10)(9) = 90. Similarly for the
second distribution, X = (M)(N) = (8)(6) = 48. They will quickly see that the mean of
both distributions combined can easily be found by adding the two Xs (48+90) =
138 and dividing by the total N of 15, to get 138/15 = 9.20. If they think this
is complicated and would rather just put all the scores together and add them
up, explain that with a large data base, the technique you're showing them is
far more efficient.
Activity: Evaluating Percentages
The same concerns also tend to show up when evaluating percentages. Too
often students want to average percentages, even when the totals in the various
percentage categories are not the same. Even faculty members have been known to
have difficulty accepting the fact that means and percentages cannot always
simply be averaged. On a Master's Comprehensive exam at a small eastern
college, the passing grade on the objective section of the test was determined
to be 80% correct. This section was composed of 300 multiple choice items,
covering seven different content areas, but the seven content areas were not
all composed of the same number of items. For example, the exam could have had
9
100 items devoted to Learning, 100 to Systems and Theories, and then 20 items
11
B. Multiple Choice Items
2-1. When scores are arranged in order of magnitude, the researcher has formed a
a.
b.
c.
d.
histogram
measure of centrality
measure of dispersion
distribution
12
2-7. When a distribution is skewed, the researcher who is interested in central
tendency should use the
a. mean
b. median
c. mode
d. all of these are appropriate
2-8. When a distribution shows a large majority of very low scores and a few
very high scores, the distribution is said to be
a. skewed to the right
b. skewed to the left
c. skewed to the middle
d. bimodal
2-9. The influence of a few extreme scores in one direction is most pronounced
on the value of the
a. mean
b. median
c. mode
d. percentile
2-10. Using the mean to indicate centrality on a distribution of income scores
usually results in
a. a false image of poverty
b. an accurate portrayal of income
c. a false image of prosperity
d. income scores never lend themselves to centrality
2-11. When each score is listed in order of magnitude, together with the number
of individuals receiving each score, the researcher has set up
a. a unimodal distribution
b. a bimodal distribution
c. a skewed distribution
d. a frequency distribution
2-12. The abscissa is
a. the horizontal axis
b. the vertical axis
c. the connected points on a polygon
d. a measure of central tendency
13
2-13. On a frequency distribution, raw scores are plotted on the
a. abscissa
b. ordinate
c. vertical axis
2-28. When the majority of scores are at the high end of the distribution, but
there are a few extremely low scores, the distribution is
a. bimodal
b. multimodal
c. skewed left
d. skewed right
2-29. When the mean lies to the right of the median, the distribution is probably
a. bimodal
b. multimodal
c. skewed left
d. skewed right
2-30. When the median lies to the right of the mean, the distribution is probably
a. bimodal
b. multimodal
c. skewed left
d. skewed right
2-31. When a distribution is skewed to the right,
a. the mode will be to the left of the median
b. the mode will be to the right of the median
c. the mode will be to the right of the mean
d. the mode will always be identical to the mean
2.32 Percentages are based on a standardized denominator of
a. 100
b. 10
c. 50
d. 0
2.33 In order to read a percentage
a. only the numerator of the percentage needs to be shown
b. the percentage is always shown in fraction form
c. the percentages shown are always in the form of inferential statistics
d. to establish a percentage for a specific event, the total number of events
need not be known
16
2-34 When comparing percentage rate increases with decreases, the same absolute difference
yields
a. the same percentage difference
b. the percentage increase calculates out as larger than the decrease
c. the percentage decrease calculates out as larger than the increase
d. comparing percentage increases with decreases cannot be done
2.35 The FBIs Uniform Crime Reports provide per capita data based on a rate per
a. 100,000
b. 50,000
c 25,000
d. one million
2-36 Bar charts are used instead of histograms when the data are
Continuous
b. Non-continuous
c. In the form of values that may fall at any point along an unseparated scale of points
d. None of these since bar charts and histograms are synonymous.
Questions 37 through 42 are based on the following:
In a certain community, the median per-family annual income is $80,000. The
Mean per-family income is $100,000, whereas the mode is $71,000.
2-37. the distribution of income scores is
A. skewed right
B. skewed left
C. skewed to the middle
D. not skewed
2-38. the most appropriate measure of central tendency in this distribution
Would yield a value of
A. $80,000
B. $100,000
C. $71,000
D. none of these values could yield a measure of central tendency
2-39. if a new family were to move into the community with an annual income of
$295,000, this would most affect
A. the mean
B. the median
C. the mode
D. all of these
17
2-40. the annual income achieved by most of the families is
A. $71,000
B. $80,000
C. $100,000
D. half way between the mean and the mode
2-41. The annual income which is surpassed by 50% of the families is
a. $80,000
b. $71,000
c. $100,000
d. cannot tell from these data
2-42. The annual income which is surpassed by 90% of the families is
a. $100,000
b. $71,000
c. $80,000
d. cannot tell from these data
2-43. Whenever a distribution is skewed left, the measure yielding the highest
numerical value is always the
a. mean
b. median
c. mode
d. percentile
2-44. When a skewed distribution tails off to the right, the distribution is
a. skewed right
b. skewed left
c. skewed to the center
d. not skewed at all
2-45. In a histogram, the mode is always located
a. under the shortest bar
b. under the tallest bar
c. under the last bar to the right
d. under the last bar to the left
2-46. A bimodal distribution often indicates
a. that there will be two means
b. that there will be two medians
c. that the mean, median and mode have the same value
d. that two separate sub-groups may have probably been measured
18
2-47. The most appropriate measure of central tendency in a bimodal distribution
is (are) the
a. mean
b. median
c. modes
d. ordinate
2-48. When a distribution has two separate and distinct medians, then
a.
b.
c.
d.
it is skewed right
it is skewed left
it is probably bimodal
a distribution can never have more than one median
19
C. True or False: For the following, indicate T (True) or F (False)
2-50. A skewed right distribution has the mean lower than the mode.
2-51. The median is always exactly half-way numerically between the highest
and lowest scores.
20
D. For the following questions, calculate the values.
2-62. For the following set of scores, calculate the mean, median and mode:
11, 2, 3, 3, 7, 6.
2-63. For the following set of scores, calculate the mean, median and mode:
20, 8, 18, 10, 15, 10, 13, 11.
2-64. For the following set of scores, calculate the mean, median and mode:
3, 4, 7, 7, 5, 9.
2-65. For the following set of scores, calculate the mean, median and mode:
5, 7, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 9.
2-66. For the following set of scores, calculate the mean, median and mode:
8, 8, 6, 7, 5, 9.
2-67. For the following set of scores, calculate the mean, median and mode:
12, 1, 9, 7, 2, 4.
2-68. For the following set of scores, calculate the mean, median and mode:
10, 12, 9, 10, 10.
Questions 69 through 75 are based on the following:
Thirty-four members of a certain sorority were selected, and asked to indicate
how many hours each had spent reading (for pleasure, not school work) during
the previous week. The data are as follows: 50, 4, 10, 5, 5, 6, 7, 3, 5, 4, 4,
5, 6, 6, 7, 5, 8, 1, 8, 7, 5, 6, 10, 6, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 4, 5.
2-69. Find the mean.
2-70. Find the median.
2-71. Find the mode.
2-72. Which measure of central tendency yielded the highest numerical value?
2-73. Which measure of central tendency yielded the lowest numerical value?
2-74. If the distribution is skewed, in what direction is the skew?.
2-75. What would the mean and median have been if the highest score had been a 12
instead of a 50?
21
CHAPTER 2 ANSWERS
2-1
d
2-21 a
2-41 a
2-2
a
2-22 b
2-42 d
2-3
a
2-23 d
2-43 c
2-4
c
2-24 a
2-44 a
2-5
d
2-25 d
2-45 b
2-6
d
2-26 c
2-46 d
2-7
b
2-27 c
2-47 c
2-8
a
2-28 c
2-48 d
2-9
a
2-29 d
2-49 a
2-10
2-11
2-12
2-13
2-14
2-15
2-16
2-17
2-18
2-19
2-20
c
d
a
a
c
a
d
b
c
d
c
2-30
2-31
2-32
2-33
2-34
2-35
2-36
2-37
2-38
2-39
2-40
c
a
a
a
b
a
b
a
a
a
a
2-50
2-51
2-52
2-53
2-54
2-55
2-56
2-57
2-58
2-59
2-60
2-61
2-62
2-63
2-64
2-65
2-66
2-67
2-68
2-69
2-70
2-71
2-72
2-73
2-74
2-75
T
M=5.33, Mdn = 4.50, Mo=3.00
M=13.13, Mdn= 12.00, Mo = 10.00
M = 5.83, Mdn = 6.00, Mo = 7.00
M = 6.33, Mdn = 5.00, Mo = 5.00
M = 7.17, Mdn = 7.50, Mo = 8.00
M = 5.83, Mdn = 5.50, Mo = None
M = 10.20, Mdn = 10.00, Mo = 10.00
M = 6.97
Mdn = 5.50
Mo = 5.00
The Mean
The Mode
Skewed to the right Sk+
M = 5.85, Mdn = 5.50
F
F
T
T
F
T
T
T
F
T
T