Let’s say that a researcher is interested in the most frequent political party affiliation of his survey respondents. He has coded Democrat = 1, Republican = 2, and Independent = 3. To find the mode, use the MODE function.
Selecting a Measure of Central Tendency
Selecting a measure of central tendency is not a difficult task if you keep the following points in mind:
-If possible, choose the mean. This is because it is useful when paired with more advanced statistics that we will discuss in later sections.
-If the distribution is not symmetrical (is skewed by extreme scores) choose the median.
-If the data are nominal, choose the mode.
Key Terms
Measures of Central Tendency, Mean, Median, Mode
Important Symbols
Last Modified: 06/03/2021