Question

Which measure of central tendency would you use for the following variables (mean, median or mode). Explain your choice.

Gender:

Class rank at a college:

Age of high school students:

A skewed income distribution (90% with incomes under $150K; a few with incomes of several million):

Answer 1

Gender: It is a categorical variable so mode will be appropriate measure of central tendency.

Class rank at a college: Ranks can be categorical or quantitative. For ranks best measure of central tendency is median.

Age of high school students: It is quantitative variable and should be approximately symmetric. So mean will be appropriate measure of central tendency.

A skewed income distribution (90% with incomes under $150K; a few with incomes of several million): Since distribution is skewed so median will be appropriate measure of central tendency.