MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHODS

CHAPTER 3: MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

OBJECTIVES:

Any data set can be characterized by measuring its central tendency. A measure of
central tendency, commonly referred to as an average, is a single value that represents a data
set. Its purpose is to locate the center of the data set.

LESSON 3.1 MEAN

The arithmetic mean, often called as the mean, is the most frequently used measure of
central tendency. The mean is the only common measure in which all values plays an equal role
meaning to determine its values you would need to consider all the values of any given data set.
It is found by adding the data values and dividing the total number of data values.

PROPERTIES OF MEAN

1. A set of data has only one mean.

2. Mean can be applied for interval and ratio data.

3. All values in the data set are included in computing the mean.

4. The mean is very useful in comparing two or more data sets.

5. Mean is affected by the extreme small or large values on a data set.

6. The mean cannot be computed for the data in a frequency distribution with an open-
ended class.

SAMPLE MEAN FOR UNGROUP DATA

Formula:
ΣX
x̄ =
n
Where:

x̄ = sample mean

X = the value of any particular observations or measurement.

Σ X = Sum of all observations

n = total number of values in sample

Chapter 3 1
 MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHODS

Example:

Five judges give their scores on the performance of a gymnast as follows: 8, 9, 9, 9, and 10.
find the mean score of a gymnast.

Solution:

Therefore, the mean score of a gymnast is 9.

SAMPLE MEAN FOR GROUP DATA

Formula:

Where:

x̄ = sample mean

f = frequency M

= Midpoint

Σ fM = sum of all the product of f and the midpoints

n = total number of values in the sample.

Example:

CLASS LIMITS f M fM
46-50 2 48 96
51-55 3 53 159
56-60 3 58 174
61-65 4 63 252
66-70 6 68 408
71-75 9 73 657
76-80 6 78 468
81-85 5 83 415
86-90 4 88 352
91-95 5 93 465
96-100 3 98 294
TOTAL 50 3,740

Chapter 3 2
 MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHODS

Solution:

LESSON 3.2 MEDIAN

The median of a data set is the measure of center that is the middle value when the original data
values are arranged in order of increasing (or decreasing) magnitude

PROPERTIES OF MEDIAN

1. The median is unique, there is only one median for a set of data.

2. The median is found by arranging the set of data from lowest to highest (or highest to
lowest) and getting the value of the middle observation.

3. Median is not affected by the extreme small or large values.

4. Median can be computed for an open-ended frequency distribution.

5. Median can be applied for ordinal, interval, and ratio data.

MEDIAN FOR UNFROUPED DATA

To determine the value of median for ungrouped we need to consider two rules:

1. If n is odd, the median is the middle ranked.

2. If n is even, the median is the average of the two middle ranked values.

n +1
x̄ (rank value) =
Where:
2 n = is the number of sample size.

Example:

Find the median of the scores of 11 HRM 1st year students in their midterm Examination, the
data set is 92, 89, 87, 93, 94, 90, 88, 84, 90, 85, 82.

Solution: Arrangement of Data set;

n = 11 (odd) 82,84,85,87,88,89, 90, 90, 92, 93, 94

Chapter 3 3
 MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHOD

x̄= n+1
2
11+1 Hence, the Median is 89.
=
2
Chapter 3 3
̄x = 6 ( r a n k v a l u e )

MEDIAN FOR GROUPED DATA

Median from grouped data in a form of frequency distribution is applicable when the number of
cases is 30 or more. The concept is to determine a value that falls 50 percent (50%) above and
the other half below it
 MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHOD

Example

Determine the median of a frequency distribution on the ages of 50 people taking travel hours.

Solution:

Class Limits f cf
18-26 3 3 N 50
27-35 5 8 median = = = 25
36-44 9 17 2 2
45-53 14 31

Chapter 3 5
MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHOD

Chapter 3 6
 MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHOD

LESSON 3.3 MODE

The mode of a data set is the value that occurs with the greatest frequency.
Like the median and unlike the mean, extreme values in a data set do not affect the mode. A data
may not contain any mode if none of the values is “most typical”.

A data set that has the only one value that occur with greatest frequency is
said to be unimodal. If the data has two values with the same greatest frequency, both values are
considered the mode and the data set is bimodal. if a data set have more than two modes, and the
data set is said to be multimodal. There are some cases when a data set values have the same
number of frequencies, when this occur, the data set is said to be no mode.

PROPERTIES OF MODE

1. The mode is found by locating the most frequently occurring value.

2. The mode is the easiest average to compute

3. There can be more than one mode or even no mode in any given data set.

4. Mode is not affected by the extreme small or large values.

5. Mode can be applied for nominal, ordinal, interval and ration data.

MODE FOR UNGROUPED DATA

Example:

Consider the heights in inches of 10 basketball players.

70, 70, 71, 71, 72, 72, 72, 72, 75, 75

The mode is 72, this implies that the most frequent height among the 10 basketball players is 72
inches.

MODE FOR GROUPED DATA

Mode from grouped data in a form of frequency distribution is applicable when the number of
cases (N) is 30 or more. The modal class is found in a class limit having the highest frequency.

Formula:

Chapter 3 7
 MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHOD

Example:

Determine the mode of a frequency distribution on the ages of 50 people taking travel hours

Class Limits f cf

18-26 3 3

27-35 5 8
36-44 9 17

54-62 11 42

63-71 6 48
72-80 2 50

MIDRANGE

The midrange is the average of the lowest and highest value in a data set. This can be
computed using the formula;
X lowest + X highest
M id ra n g e =
2
Chapter 3 8
 MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHOD

PROPERTIES OF MIDRANGE

• The midrange is easy to compute

• The midrange gives the midpoint
• The midrange is unique
• Midrange is affected by the extreme small or large values
• Midrange can be applied for interval and ratio data.

Example:

Find the midrange of the ages of 9 middle-management employees of a certain company. The
ages are 53, 45, 59, 48, 54, 46, 51, 58, and 55.

Solution:

Xlowest = 45 and Xhighest = 59

Xlowest + Xhighest
Midrange =
2
45+ 59
=
2
Midrange = 52 Therefore, the midrange age is 52.

Chapter 3 9
MODULE QUANTITATIVE METHOD

Chapter 3 10