central tendency

(noun)

a term that relates the way in which quantitative data tend to cluster around some value

Related Terms

  • arithmetic mean
  • average

Examples of central tendency in the following topics:

  • Comparing Measures of Central Tendency

    • How do the various measures of central tendency compare with each other?
    • Measures of central tendency are shown in Table 1.
    • Table 2 shows the measures of central tendency for these data.
    • No single measure of central tendency is sufficient for data such as these.
    • Measures of central tendency for baseball salaries (in thousands of dollars)
  • Median

    • A measure of central tendency (also referred to as measures of center or central location) is a summary measure that attempts to describe a whole set of data with a single value that represents the middle or center of its distribution.
    • There are three main measures of central tendency: the mode, the median and the mean .
    • Each of these measures describes a different indication of the typical or central value in the distribution.
    • The median is less affected by outliers and skewed data than the mean, and is usually the preferred measure of central tendency when the distribution is not symmetrical.
    • Identify the median in a data set and distinguish it's properties from other measures of central tendency.
  • Averages of Qualitative and Ranked Data

    • The central tendency for qualitative data can be described via the median or the mode, but not the mean.
    • The mode, i.e. the most common item, is allowed as the measure of central tendency for the nominal type.
    • The median, i.e. middle-ranked, item is allowed as the measure of central tendency; however, the mean (or average) as the measure of central tendency is not allowed.
    • An opinion survey is an example of a non-dichotomous data set on the ordinal scale for which the central tendency can be described by the median or the mode.
    • Categorize levels of measurement and identify the appropriate measures of central tendency.
  • Exercises

    • (S) Test the difference in central tendency between the two conditions using a rank-randomization test (with the normal approximation) with a one-tailed test.
    • (SL) Test the difference in central tendency between the four conditions using a rank-randomization test (with the normal approximation).
  • Measures of Central Tendency

    • In the previous section we saw that there are several ways to define central tendency.
    • This section defines the three most common measures of central tendency: the mean, the median, and the mode.
    • The relationships among these measures of central tendency and the definitions given in the previous section will probably not be obvious to you.
    • The arithmetic mean is the most common measure of central tendency.
    • The median is also a frequently used measure of central tendency.
  • Mean: The Average

    • The term central tendency relates to the way in which quantitative data tend to cluster around some value.
    • The term central tendency relates to the way in which quantitative data tend to cluster around some value.
    • A measure of central tendency is any of a variety of ways of specifying this "central value".
    • Central tendency is contrasted with statistical dispersion (spread), and together these are the most used properties of distributions.
    • Statistics that measure central tendency can be used in descriptive statistics as a summary statistic for a data set, or as estimators of location parameters of a statistical model.
  • The Average and the Histogram

    • The shape of a histogram can assist with identifying other descriptive statistics, such as which measure of central tendency is appropriate to use.
    • The shape of the distribution can assist with identifying other descriptive statistics, such as which measure of central tendency is appropriate to use.
    • Skewness is the tendency for the values to be more frequent around the high or low ends of the $x$-axis.
    • Demonstrate the effect that the shape of a distribution has on measures of central tendency.
  • Basic Descriptive Statistics

    • Descriptive statistics involves two major aspects of data: central tendency and variance.
    • Central tendency and variability measures are used to interpret the meaning and value of data.
    • There are three common representations of central tendency: the mean, median, and mode.
    • The mode is the least influential measure of central tendency because little insight is gathered from its calculation.
    • Explain the descriptive statistics used to measure central tendency and variability
  • What is Central Tendency?

    • What is "central tendency," and why do we want to know the central tendency of a group of scores?
    • In the succeeding sections we will give statistical measures for these concepts of central tendency.
    • All three are called measures of central tendency.
    • One definition of central tendency is the point at which the distribution is in balance.
    • We are now in a position to define a second measure of central tendency, this time in terms of absolute deviations.
  • Mode

    • A measure of central tendency (also referred to as measures of center or central location) is a summary measure that attempts to describe a whole set of data with a single value that represents the middle or center of its distribution.
    • There are three main measures of central tendency: the mode, the median and the mean .
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