Math 600 Biostatistics

Handout: Descriptive Measures for Ungrouped Data

Measures of Central Tendency (Average): Mean, Median, and Mode
Measures of Other Tendency (Quantiles or Fractiles): Quartiles, Deciles, and Percentiles
Measures of Variation: Range, Standard Deviation, Average Deviation, Variance, and Coefficient of Variation
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Mean (M or xor ) Arithmetic Mean: the sum of entries divided by the number of entries.
Median (Md or x
~
) the middle score of the entries, arranged in ascending or descending order.
Mode (Mo or x

) the entry or entries that appeared most frequently.

unimodal, bimodal, trimodal, multimodal data
Find the measures of central tendency of the ungrouped data:
a) 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 6 , 7 , 9
x= __________ x
~
= __________ x

= __________
b) 15 , 13 , 12 , 13 , 12 , 17 , 17 , 16
x= __________ x
~
= __________ x

= __________
MEASURES OF OTHER TENDENCY
- divisions of arranged data into four (quartiles), ten (deciles), or hundred (percentiles)
Given the same set of ungrouped data above, find the following:
a) 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 6 , 7 , 9
P
75
= _______________ Q
1
= _______________
b) 15 , 13 , 12 , 13 , 12 , 17 , 17 , 16
Q
2
= _______________ P
43
= _______________
MEASURES OF VARIATION
Range (R) - the difference of the highest score and the lowest score
R = HS - LS
Quartile Deviation (QD) - the average of the difference between the first and the third quartiles
Average Deviation (AD) - the average of the deviation of the scores from the mean

Standard Deviation (s or ) the measure of the average deviation in the data set
( )
1 n
x - x
s
2

=

,
( )
1 n
n
x
x
s
2
2

=


or
( )
1) n(n
x x n
s
2
2

=


Variance (s
2
or
2
) - the measure of the average squared difference between observed values and
their mean
Coefficient of Variation (CV) used to compares the variability of two groups
100%
x
s
CV |
.
|

\
|
=
2
1
Q
=
3
Q
QD
N
x x
AD


=
Given the ungrouped data 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 6 , 7 , 9,
Find the following:
a) Range
Range = HS LS = ____________
b) Quartile Deviation
2
Q
QD
1 3
Q
= = ____________
c) Average Deviation
N
x x
AD


= = ____________
d) Standard Deviation
( )
1 n
x - x
s
2

=

= ____________

( )
1) n(n
x x n
s
2
2

=

= ____________
e) Variance = ____________
f) Coefficient of Variation = ____________
What measure of central tendency to use?
MEAN
when data are close to each other
when data are interval / ratio
when a unique data is wanted
when it is desired to find the most stable
measure of central tendency
when s, s
2
, o, or o
2
will be used later
MEDIAN
when data are skewed (having extreme values)
when data are ordinal
when it is desired to know the middle value
MODE
when a measure of central tendency is quickly
needed
when data are nominal
when the most typical data is wanted
What measure of variation to use?
RANGE
when data have extreme values
QUARTILE DEVIATION
when median is used as measure of central
tendency
AVERAGE DEVIATION
when it is desired to know the average of the
scores from mean
STANDARD DEVIATION / VARIANCE
when mean is used as measure of central
tendency
when it is desired to use a measure of
variability that is most stable
when an estimation of percentage falling
between two scores is wanted
COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION
when it is desired to know which set of data
having different means, is more varied