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Understanding Mean, Median, Mode and Range

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1. Peter, a sixth-grade mathematics teacher, recently administered an exam. He wants to report a measure of central tendency but he doesn't know what to do with the fact that two students have much lower scores than anyone else. What is the best measure of central tendency for Peter to report?
a. Range
b. Standard deviation
c. Median
d. Mean

2. Maricella has collected her thesis data that examines differences in PSAT math achievement in Latino boys and girls. However, upon a second look at the graphs of her raw scores, it appears that the boys' scores are more normally distributed and the girls' scores are somewhat more bunched together around the mean. Given this information, what can you conclude regarding the data set?
a. The standard deviation is likely smaller for girls.
b. The girls' distribution is likely unimodal.
c. The girls' mean score is more representative of the data.
d. The girls' median is higher than the boys' median.

Use the following scenario for Q. 3 and 4:

Anton collected survey data regarding teachers' use of technology in their teaching activities. He was pleased that his data are generally normally distributed. Among other data, he collected age, number of years teaching, highest degree held, amount of time spent in online office hours weekly, and whether the teacher reported using an electronic discussion board.

3. Anton will most likely report which of the following measures of central tendency for the variable number of years teaching?
a. Mode
b. Range
c. Mean
d. Median

4. Anton will most likely report which of the following measures of central tendency for the variable highest degree held?
a. Mode
b. Range
c. Mean
d. Median

5. Andy compared students' ability to transfer learning from three different types of instructional materials. He found that there were pre-existing group differences between his conditions. Which of the following is the appropriate analysis technique for Andy to use?
a. Nonindependent t test
b. Independent t test
c. MANOVA
d. ANCOVA

6. Nelson's recent study tested differences in problem-solving ability based upon science ability, treatment (instruction, no instruction), and gender. Of the following, which test should Nelson employ?
a. Chi Square
b. t test
c. ANOVA
d. Multiple Regression

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Solution Summary

The following posting helps understand mean, median, mode and range.

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1. When there are some extreme values (outliers), it is generally a good idea to use median as the best measure of central tendency rather than mean since median is not affected by these extreme values. Therefore, c is the right choice.

2. Unimodal distribution includes normal distribution. Therefore, b is not the choice. Since the girls' scores are more bunched around the ...

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