Central Luzon State University

Science City of Muñoz 3120

Nueva Ecija, Philippines

Instructional Module for the Course

PSYCH 2104 Psychological Statistics

Prepared by: Robinson Z. Lumontod III

E-mail Address: robinsonlumontodiii@clsu.edu.ph
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Module 2

I. Title: Central Tendency and Variability

II. Overview

In this module, we will focus our discussion and activities on the ways
of determining the center of a given distribution and the degree to which the
scores vary. Upon completion of this module, you will be able to correctly
identify and compute the center of the distribution as well as the variability
value.

III. Objectives

Upon completion of this module, you will be to:

a. correctly compute and determine the center of the distribution or the data set
b. determine how scores in the data set vary
c. explain and give a meaningful and appropriate interpretation of the certain
data set

IV. Discussion

Measures of Central Tendency

The central tendency is simply the center of the distribution or the group of scores.
There are three most common ways of determining the middle of the group of scores.
They are the mean, mode, and median commonly known as the measures of central
tendency.

A. Mean

The mean is just the average value or the sum of all scores divided by the number
of scores. For instance, if you have ten scores such as 5, 5, 6, 4, 6, 5, 2, 2, 1, 4, you can
simply add these numbers and divide the sum by ten (the total number of scores).
Therefore, the mean has the formula;

M= Sum of all scores

Total number of scores
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Or

The capital Greek letter ∑ (sigma) is the symbol for the sum and X represents the
scores of the distribution. Using the formula above, you can now compute for the mean.
Just add all the numbers and divide the sum by ten. Therefore;

M = _40_ = 4
10

This simply means that the ten scores have an average of 4. You can think of a
mean as the point that balances the distribution. If the example scores are sleep duration
of college students, it means that on average, the ten students have an average of 4
hours of sleep every day.

Steps for Computing the Means

1. Add up all the scores.
2. Divide the sum by the number of scores in the data set.

B. Mode

The mode is just the most frequent or the most common single score in the data
set. In the example group of scores, the mode is the number 5. This is because it appears
three times, the most common value of the data set. To determine the mode, you just
need to look for a single number in the distribution that has the largest frequency.

In a unimodal or symmetrical frequency distribution, the mode is the same as the

mean. However, in many instances wherein the distribution is not symmetrical, the mode
is different from the mean.

C. Median

The median is just the middle value in the distribution or set of scores. You can
simply find the median by looking at the arranged scores. Therefore, the first step is to
arrange all the scores from the lowest to the highest value. In the above example set of
scores, you have 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, and 6. In this case, because we have an even
number of scores, the median is the mean or average of two middle scores (4, 5). You
can compute it by adding the two scores together and dividing the sum by two
(4+5=9/2=4.5). Therefore, the median of the example data set is 4.5.

Determining the median in a data set that has an odd number of scores is much
easier. You just need to locate the middle value or score. For instance, if you have the
set of scores say 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, the median is the middle number. After arranging

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the scores from lowest to highest, you can now determine the median. In the above
example, 4 is the median.

Variability

Variability pertains to the variation of scores in a given distribution or data set.

Variability gives you an overview of how spread the scores in the data set. The larger the
variability, the more dispersed the scores. There are two most common ways of
determining variability: the variance and standard deviation.

A. Variance

The variance can give a rough estimate of how the scores spread in the
distribution. Aron, Coups, and Aron (2013) defined variance as “the average of each
score’s squared difference from the mean” (p. 45). From this definition, you can compute
variance using the following steps:

1. Subtract the mean of the data set from each score.

2. Square each deviation score
3. Get the sum of squared deviations by adding all the squared deviation scores
4. Divide the sum of squared deviations by the total number of scores to get the
variance

Again, the smaller the variance means that the scores in the data set do not vary
too much. The larger the variance value means the larger the variability of the scores.
Take a look at the sample variance computation in the table below:

Squared Deviation
Score Deviation Score Score
1 1-3.9 -2.9 8.41
2 2-3.9 -1.9 3.61
2 2-3.9 -1.9 3.61
3 3-3.9 -0.9 0.81
4 4-3.9 0.1 0.01
5 5-3.9 1.1 1.21
5 5-3.9 1.1 1.21
5 5-3.9 1.1 1.21
6 6-3.9 2.1 4.41
6 6-3.9 2.1 4.41
Mean 3.9 Sum of Squared Deviations or Sum of Squares 28.9
Variance 2.89

The above steps can be summarized into a formula;

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However, the most common practice is to minus 1 from the total number of
observations. The reason for this is because in research, what you have is the sample
and not the whole population of interest. Below is the commonly used formula for a
sample variance.

The variance is denoted by s2 which is equal to the summation of each score of

the distribution minus the mean of the distribution squared divided by the total number
of scores minus one. Aron, Coups, and Aron (2013) however, argued that both
formulas are correct.

B. Standard Deviation

Standard deviation is the most widely used value in estimating the variability of
the given data set. It tells you how the scores in the distribution close to the mean (the
center of the distribution). The smaller the standard deviation the better. You can get the
standard deviation by getting the square root of the variance.

Since the standard deviation is from the computed variance, we can simply use
the same example above. We just need to take the square root of the computed variance
shown in the table.

Score Deviation Score Squared Deviation Score

1 1-3.9 -2.9 8.41
2 2-3.9 -1.9 3.61
2 2-3.9 -1.9 3.61
3 3-3.9 -0.9 0.81
4 4-3.9 0.1 0.01
5 5-3.9 1.1 1.21
5 5-3.9 1.1 1.21
5 5-3.9 1.1 1.21
6 6-3.9 2.1 4.41
6 6-3.9 2.1 4.41

Mean 3.9 Sum of Squared Deviations or Sum of Squares 28.9

Variance 2.89
Standard Deviation 1.7

The standard deviation value tells us, on average, how spread the values around
the mean. In our example, we say that on average, the scores in our data set on average
are 1.7 points away from the mean.

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Additional Learning Materials

Video presentations

 Measures of Central Tendency and Variation

 What is Central Tendency and Variability
 Mean, Median, Mode
 Measures of Central Tendency and Variability
Journal articles
 Central Tendency and Variability
 Central tendency and Variability Part 2
Online Resource
Measures of Variability

V. Assessment

Module Quiz 2

Answer the following question. Note the that question below will be graded according to
the following Rubrics:

Structure Content/information
5 = Exceeds Expectations 5 = Exceeds Expectations
3 = Meets Expectations 3 = Meets Expectations
1 = Needs Improvement 1 = Needs Improvement

Grammar/mechanics Originality
5 = Exceeds Expectations 5 = 100% Original
3 = Meets Expectations 3 = 90% original
1 = Needs Improvement 0 = 11% or more, plagiarized

This is a 20-point quiz. Read the question thoroughly. Give your answer in not more
than 500 words.

Question:

Based on the discussion, what do you think the better measure of variability and why?
Answer in your own words.

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VI. References

Aron, A., Coups, E. J., & Aron, A. N. (2013). Statistics for Psychology: Sixth Edition.
Pearson Education, Inc.