UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING 1
SUBJECT CODE: MS 112
TOPIC OR LESSON:
CHAPTER 7. MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY AND DISPERSION/VARIABILITY
WEEK/S: 14-15
SUB-TOPIC/S:
7.1 The Measures of Central Tendency
7.2 Normal and Skewed Distributions
7.3 Outcomes-based Teaching-Learning and Score Distribution
7.4 Measures of Dispersion or Variability
OVERVIEW OF THE TOPIC
A measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a set of data (like scores)
by identifying the central position within that set of data or scores. As such, measures of central tendency
are sometimes called measures of central location. Central tendency refers to the center of a distribution
of observations. Where do scores tend to congregate? In a test of 100 items, where are most of the scores?
Do they tend to group around the mean score of 50 or 80?
There are three measures of central tendency - the mean, the median and the mode. Perhaps you
are most familiar with the mean (often called the average). But there are two other measures of central
tendency, namely, the median and the mode. Is there such a thing as best measure of central tendency?
If the measures of central tendency indicate where scores congregate, the measures of variability
indicate how spread out a group of scores is or how varied the scores are or how far they are from the
mean? Common measures of dispersion or variability are range, interquartile range, variance and standard
deviation.
LEARNING
OUTCOMES
a. Explain the meaning and function of the measures of central tendency and measures of
dispersion/variability
b. Distinguish among the measures of central tendency and measures of variability/dispersion
c. Explain the meaning of normal and skewed score distribution
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to determine the measures of central tendency and
dispersion/variability.
1|P a g e
ENGAGE
Activity 1: Brain-Drain
Directions. Indicate your ideas (can be in word, phrase, or sentence) regarding outcomes-based education
in the graphical organizer below.
Note that in this part you are encouraged to think critically and substantially.
MEAN,
MEDIAN, &
MODE
Activity 2: Think and Share
Directions: Using the information you acquired from the previous activity, try to provide answers to the
questions below (maximum of three sentences).
Note that in this part you are encouraged to think critically and substantially.
1. How do mean, median, and mode differ from one another? How about their similarity/ies?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2. How do you determine the mean, median, and mode of the given data?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2|P a g e
3. Is there a best measure of central tendency – mean, median, or mode? How do you say so? Explain
briefly.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
EXPLORE
Activity 3: Comparability Test
Directions: Observe the two sets of pictures below which have something to do with the present topic.
Share your view and perspective towards it in a concise manner (maximum of five sentences).
Note that in this part you are encouraged to be factual with what you perceive.
1st set of pictures
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
EXPLAIN
3|P a g e
7.1 The Measures of Central Tendency
The mean, mode and median are valid measures of central tendency but under different
conditions, one measure becomes more appropriate than the others. For example, if the scores are
extremely high and extremely low, the median is a better measure of central tendency since mean is
affected by extremely high and extremely low scores.
The Mean (Arithmetic)
The mean (or average or arithmetic mean) is the most popular and most well-known measure of
central tendency. The mean is equal to the sum of all the values in the data set divided by the number of
values in the data set. For example, 10 students in a Graduate School class got the following scores in a
100 - item test: 70, 72, 75, 77, 78, 80, 84, 87, 90, 92. The mean score of the group of 10 students is the
sum of all their scores divided by 10. The mean, therefore, is 805/10 equals 80.5. 80.5 is the average score
of the group. There are 6 scores below the average score (mean) of the group (70, 72, 75, 77, 78, and 80)
and there are 4 scores above the average score (mean) of the group (84, 87, 90 and 92).
When Not to Use the Mean
The mean has one main disadvantage. It is particularly susceptible to the influence of outliers.
These are values that are unusual compared to the rest of the data set by being especially small or large in
numerical value. For example, consider the scores of 10 Grade 12 students in a 100-item Statistics test
below:
Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5 38 56 60 67 70 73 78 79 95
The mean score for these ten Grade 12 students is 62.1 However, inspecting the raw data suggests
that this mean score may not be the best way to accurately reflect the score of the typical Grade 12
student., as most students have scores in the 5 to 95 range. The mean is being skewed by the extremely
low and extremely high scores. Therefore, in this situation, we would like to have a better measure of
central tendency. As we will find out later, taking the median would be a better measure of central
tendency in this situation.
Median
The median is the middle score for a set of scores arranged from lowest to highest. The mean is
less affected by extremely low and extremely high scores. How do we find the median? Suppose we have
the following data:
65 55 89 56 35 14 56 55 87 45 92
To determine the median, first we have to rearrange the scores into order of magnitude (from
smallest to largest).
14 35 45 55 55 56 56 65 87 89 92
Our median is the score at the middle of the distribution. In this case, 56. It is the middle score.
There are 5 scores before it and 5 scores after it. This works fine when you have an odd number of scores,
but what happens when you have an even number of scores? What if you had 10 scores like the scores
below?
65 55 89 56 35 14 56 55 87 45
Arrange that data according to order of magnitude (smallest to largest). Then take the middle two
scores (55 and 56) and compute the average of the two scores. The median is 55.5. This gives us a more
reliable picture of the tendency of the scores. There are indeed scores of 55 and 56 in the score
distribution.
4|P a g e
Mode
The mode is the most frequent score in our data set. On a histogram or bar chart, it represents the
highest bar. It is a score of the number of times an option is chosen in a multiple-choice test. You can,
therefore, sometimes consider the mode as being the most popular option. Study the score distribution
given below:
14 35 45 55 55 56 56 65 87 89
There are two most frequent scores 55 and 56. So we have a score distribution with two modes,
hence a bimodal distribution.
7.2 Normal and Skewed Distributions
A score distribution of a sample has a "normal distribution" when most of the values are
aggregated around the mean, and the number of values decrease as you move below or above the mean:
the bar graph of frequencies of a "normally distributed" sample will look like a bell curve.
If mean is equal to the median and median is equal to the mode, the score distribution shows a
perfectly normal distribution. This is illustrated by the perfect bell shape or normal curve shown
in Figure 13.
If mean is less than the median and the mode, the score distribution is a negatively skewed
distribution. See Figure 14. In a negatively skewed distribution, the scores tend to congregate at
the upper end of the score distribution.
If mean is greater than the median and the mode, the score distribution is a positively skewed
distribution. See Figure 15. In a positively skewed distribution, the scores tend to congregate at
the lower end of the score distribution.
5|P a g e
If scores tend to be high because teacher taught very well and students are highly motivated to
learn, the score distribution tends to be negatively skewed, i.e. the scores will tend to be high. On the
other hand, when teacher does not teach well and students are poorly motivated, the score distribution
tends to be positively skewed which means that scores tend to below. So which score distribution should
we work for?
7.3 Outcomes-based Teaching-Learning and Score Distribution
If teachers teach in accordance with the principles of outcome-based teaching-learning and so
align content and assessment with the intended learning outcomes and re-teach till mastery what has/ have
not been understood as revealed by the formative assessment process, then student scores in the
assessment phase of the lesson will tend to congregate on the higher end of the score distribution. Score
distribution will be positively skewed.
On the other hand, if what teachers teach and assess are not aligned with the intended learning
outcomes, the opposite will be true. Score distribution will be negatively skewed which means that scores
tend to congregate on the lower end of the score distribution.
7.4 Measures of Dispersion or Variability
If the measures of central tendency indicate where scores congregate, the measures of variability
indicate how spread out a group of scores is or how varied the scores are. Common measures of
dispersion or variability are range, variance and standard deviation.
Range
What is variability?
Variability refers to how "spread out" a group of scores is. The terms variability, spread, and
dispersion are synonyms, and refer to how spread out a distribution is. Here are two sets of score
distribution:
A – 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 – Mean is 5.6
B – 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 – Mean is 5.6
The two score distributions have equal mean scores and yet the scores are varied. Score
distribution A shows scores that are less varied than score distribution B. That is what we mean by
variability or dispersion. If we have to study both score distributions, assuming that the highest possible
score in the quiz is 10, we can say that Groups A and B are equal in terms of mean but Group A has more
similar scores and are closer to the mean while Group B, while its mean is equal to the mean of Group A,
students in Group B have more varied scores than Group A. In fact, the lowest score is extremely low
compared to Group A and the highest score is much higher than the highest score in Group A.
6|P a g e
To see more what we mean by spread out, consider graphs in Figure 1. These graphs represent the
scores on two quizzes. The mean score for each quiz is 7.0. Despite the equality of means, you can see
that the distributions are quite different. Specifically, the scores on Quiz 1 are more densely packed and
those on Quiz 2 are more spread out. The differences among students were much greater on Quiz 2 than
on Quiz 1.
Range
The range is the simplest measure of variability. The range is simply the highest score minus the
lowest score. Here are examples: Let's take a few examples. What is the range of the following group
scores: 10, 2, 5, 6, 7, 3, 4? The highest number is 10, and the lowest number is 2, so 10 - 2 = 8. The range
is 8.
Here are other examples:
Here is a set of scores in a test: 99, 45, 23, 67, 45, 91, 82, 78, 62, 51. What is the range? The
highest number is 99 and the lowest number is 23, so 99 - 23 equals 76; the range is 76. Here is another
set of scores: 40, 40, 42, 50, 53, 56, 67, 68, 70, 89. What is the range? 89 minus 40 equals 49. The range
is 49. The set of scores with a range of 76 is more varied or more spread than the set of scores with a
range of 49.
Variance
Variability can also be defined in terms of how close the scores in the distribution are to the
middle of the distribution. Using the mean as the measure of the middle of the distribution, the variance is
defined as the average squared difference of the scores from the mean. The data from Quiz 1 are shown in
Table 1. The mean score is 7.0. Therefore, the column “Deviation from Mean" contains the score minus
7. The column “Squared Deviation” is simply the previous column squared.
7|P a g e
Table 1. Calculation of Variance for Quiz 1 scores.
SCORES DEVIATION FROM SQUARED DEVIATION
MEAN
9 2 4
9 2 4
9 2 4
8 1 1
8 1 1
8 1 1
8 1 1
7 0 0
7 0 0
7 0 0
7 0 0
7 0 0
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
6 -1 1
5 -2 4
5 -2 4
MEANS
7 0 1.5
One thing that is important to notice is that the mean deviation from the mean is 0. This will
always be the case. The mean of the squared deviations is 1.5. Therefore, the variance is 1.5. The formula
for the variance is:
ELABORAT
E
Activity 4.1: Let’s Practice
Directions: Given the data or set of scores, compute for the mean, median, mode and its type, and range
of the following. Use a separate paper if needed.
1.
Given 57, 58, 58, 34, 78, 77, 98, 45, 76, 77, 38, 77, 70, 61, 60
Mean: Median: Mode: Mode Type: Range:
8|P a g e
2.
Given 67, 68, 68, 44, 88, 87, 88, 55, 86, 87, 48, 87, 80, 71, 70
Mean: Median: Mode: Mode Type: Range:
3.
Given 75, 85, 85, 43, 87, 77, 89, 54, 67, 77, 83, 77, 70, 16, 60
Mean: Median: Mode: Mode Type: Range:
4.
Given 65, 75, 75, 33, 77, 67, 79, 44, 57, 67, 73, 67, 60, 66, 50
Mean: Median: Mode: Mode Type: Range:
5.
Given 52, 63, 63, 29, 83, 87, 93, 49, 71, 76, 38, 77, 70, 61, 60
Mean: Median: Mode: Mode Type: Range:
EVALUATE
DIRECTIONS: In this, you will be asked to answer different sets of questions which is a combination of
different types of objective examination (multiple choices, identification, short response, true or false or
alike, and so on.)
Note that in this part you are encouraged to remember the topic/s discussed.
This will be provided on the platform identified in the syllabus and course guide.
REFERENC
Rosita L.ES
Navarro, Ph.D., Rosita G. Santos, Ph.D., Brenda B. Corpuz, Ph.D. (2019) Assessment
in the Learning Process 1: Outcome-based Assessment Fourth Edition
PREPARED BY:
JOSHUA JAY O. EDEN CHELOU D. LASACA DOMINIC C. ROTA
CHRISTIAN JAY Y. ILAGAN JAMES PAUL P. IGNACIO ULLYSIS R. MUHI
9|P a g e
