16. Statistics in Psychology

The three primary measures of central tendency are:

Here are some scores from a group of 10 test-takers: 15, 12, 12, 16, 15, 12, 15, 17, 10, 15. Here are those same scores added together: 15+12+12+16+15+12+15+17+10+15 = 139. That total (139) divided by the 10 scores that produced it yields 139 / 10 = 13.9. Huzzah! We've just found the:

Barabbas was in the early stages of analyzing some survey data he had collected. To get a sense of how his respondents endorsed one of the survey items, Barabbas listed all the scores from highest through lowest, then identified the middle or halfway point of the entire distribution. 'Right on!' he exclaimed. 'Now I know that half the respondents fell above this point, and the other half of the respondents fell below this point. Let me write this down. The _________ is…..'

Here are some scores from a group of 10 test-takers: 15, 12, 12, 16, 15, 12, 15, 17, 10, 15. In this set of data the mode is:

Dr. Acula was discussing the results of a recent exam with his students. 'I'm really impressed,' he said. 'You don't see this often, but we're seeing it now. The mean, median, and mode of the distribution of exam scores were all pretty much identical to one another; 75.2, 75, and 74.' 'A-ha,' whispered Jasper to his friend Lola, 'so in other words it was a:'