Module-4-Lesson-2
Module-4-Lesson-2
Module-4-Lesson-2
Pre-discussion
Discussions in this lesson will build upon the concepts and examples
presented in the preceding lesson, which focused on the tabular and graphical
presentation and interpretation of test results. This time, other ways of
summarizing test data using descriptive statistics, which provides a more
precise means of describing a set of scores, will be introduced. The word
“measures” is commonly associated with numerical and quantitative data.
Hence, the prerequisite to understanding the concepts contained in this
lesson in your basic knowledge of mathematics, e.g., summation of values,
simple operation on integers, squaring and finding the square roots, etc.
What to Expect?
At the end of the lesson, the students can:
1. find the mean, median, and mode of test score distribution;
2. determine the different measures of dispersion of test scores;
3. calculate the measure of position;
4. relate standard deviation and normal distribution;
5. transform raw scores to standardized scores (z, T and stanine);
6. compute the measure of covariability using the long process and
Excel; and
7. interpret test data applying measures of central tendency, variability,
position, and covariability.
Mean. This is the most preferred measure of central tendency for use
with test scores, also referred to as the arithmetic mean. The computation is
very simple. When a student has added up the examination scores he/she
made in a subject during the grading period and divided it by the number of
examinations taken, then he/she computed the arithmetic mean.
That is, ̅ = where ̅ = the mean, the sum of all the scores,
The mean is the sum of all the scores from 53 down to the last score,
which is 35, divided by the total number of cases.
That is,
̅= = (53 + 36 + 57 + … + 60 + 49 + 35)/100
You have many ways computing the mean. The traditional long and
tedious computation techniques have outlasted their relevance due to
advancement of technology and the emergence of statistical software. Using
your specific calculator, you will see the symbols ̅ and . Just follow the
simple steps indicated in the guide. There are also simple steps in Microsoft
Excel. Different versions of the statistical software SPSS offer the fastest way
of obtaining the mean, even with hundreds of scores in a set. There is no loss
of original information because you are dealing with original individual scores.
The use of statistical software will be explained later.
In the traditional way, it cannot be argued that you can see at a glance
how the scores are distributed among the range of values in a condensed
manner. You can even estimate the average of the scores by looking at the
frequency in each class interval. In the absence of statistical program, the
mean can be computed with the following formula.
Median. It is the value that divides the ranked scores into halves, or the
middle value of the ranked scores. If the number of scores is odd, then there
is only one middle value that gives the median. However, if the number of
scores in the set is even number, then there are 2 middle values. But if there
are more than 50 scores, arranging the scores and finding the middle value
will take time. This formula will help you determine the median:
4. Find the exact limits of the median class. In this case, class 44.5-49.5. the
lower limit then is 44.5
Summing up these steps and substituting these values to the formula,
we have:
Mode. It is the easiest measure of central tendency to obtain. The mode is the
score or value with the highest frequency in the set of scores. If the scores are
arranged in a frequency distribution, the mode is estimated as the midpoint of
the class interval which has the highest frequency. This class interval with the
highest frequency is also called the modal class. In a graphical representation
the frequency distribution, the mode is the value in the horizontal axis at which
the curve is at its highest point (peak). If there are two highest points, then,
there are two modes, as discussed in previous lesson. When all the scores in
a group have the same frequency, the group of scores has no mode.
Considering the test data in Table 2, it can be seen that highest
frequency of 21 occurred in the class interval 45 - 49. The rough estimate of
the mode is 42, which is the midpoint of the class interval.
As manual computations of the mean, median and mode are so
lengthy and tedious processes; technology makes it simpler through the use
of Microsoft Excel application. Here’s the simple guide to observe.
B12. Calculating the mean of scores located in several columns and rows can
also be possible provided they are all selected or defined.
Median in Excel
Mode in Excel
Mode helps you to find out the value that occurs most number of times.
When you are working on a large amount of data, this function can be a lot of
help. To find the most occurring value in Excel, use the MODE function and
select the range you want to find the mode of. In our example below, we use
=MODE(B2:B12) and since 2 students have scored 55 we get the answer as
55.
In situations where there are two or more modes in your data set, the
Excel MODE function will return the lowest mode.
Scale of Measurement
There are four levels of measurement that apply to the treatment of test
data: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. In nominal measurement, the
number is used for labeling or identification purposes only. An example is the
| ERNIE C. CERADO, PhD & MA. DULCE P. DELA CERNA, MIE 7
SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY
You can see that different distributions may be symmetrical, may have
same average values (mean, median, mode), but how the scores in each
distribution are spread out around these measures are different. In A, as
shown in Figure 4, scores range between 40 and 60; in B, between 30 and
| ERNIE C. CERADO, PhD & MA. DULCE P. DELA CERNA, MIE 11
SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY
70; and in C between about 20 and 80. Measures of variability give us the
estimate to determine how the scores are compressed, which contributes to
the “flatness” or “peakedness” of the distribution.
There are several indices of variability, and the most commonly used in
the area of assessment are the following.
Range. It is the difference between the highest (XH) and the lowest (XL)
scores in a distribution. It is the simplest measure of variability but also
considered as the least accurate measure of dispersion because its value is
determined by just two scores in the group. It does not take into consideration
the spread of all scores; its value simply depends on the highest and lowest
scores. Its value could be drastically changed by a single value. Consider the
following examples:
Determine the range for the following scores: 9, 9, 9, 12, 12, 13, 15, 15,
17, 17, 18, 18, 20, 20, 20.
Range = XH - XL
= 20 – 9
Range = 11
Now, replace a high score in one of the scores, say, the last score and
make it 50. The range becomes:
Range = XH - XL
= 50 – 9
= 41
We observed that with just a single score, the range increased so high.
This can be interpreted as large dispersion of test scores; however, when you
look at the individual scores, it is not.
Note that while the distributions contain different scores, they have the
same mean. If we ask how each mean represents the score in their
respective distribution, there will be no doubt with the mean of distribution C
because each score in the distribution is 12. How about in distributions A and
B? For these two distributions, the mean of 12 is a better estimate of the
scores in distribution B than in distribution A. We can see that no score in B is
more than 4 points away from mean of 12. However, in distribution A, half of
the 12 scores is 4 points or more away from the mean. We can also say that
there is less variability of scores in B than in A. However, we cannot just
determine which distribution is dispersed or not by merely looking at the
numbers, especially when there are many scores. We need a reliable index of
variability, such as variance or standard deviation that takes into consideration
all the scores.
Recall that ∑(X- ̅ ) is the sum of the deviation scores from the mean,
which is equal to zero. As such, we square each deviation score, then sum up
all the squared deviation scores, and divide it by the number of cases, this
yields the variance. Extracting its square root gives us the standard
deviation.
( ̅)
( ̅)
√
̅)
√ (
Class A Class B
X (X – ̅ ) (X – ̅ )2
X (X – ̅ ) (X – ̅ )2
22 22-12 100 16 16-12 16
18 18-12 36 15 15-12 9
16 16-12 16 15 15-12 9
14 14-12 4 14 14-12 4
12 12-12 0 12 12-12 0
11 11-12 1 11 11-12 1
9 9-12 9 11 11-12 1
7 7-12 25 9 9-12 9
6 6-12 36 9 9-12 9
5 5-12 49 8 8-12 16
̅ = 12 ̅
∑(X– )2 = 276 ̅ = 12 ̅ 2
∑(X- ) = 74
The values 276 and 74 are the sum of the squared deviations of scores
in Class A and Class B, respectively. If these are divided by number of scores
in each class, this gives the variance (S2):
The values above are both in squared units, while our original units of
scores are not in squared units. When we find their square roots, we obtained
values that are on the same scale of units as the original set of scores. These
too give the respective standard deviation (S) of each class and computed
as follows:
When you are finding the variance using Excel, you can simply use the
VAR function and select the range and you will find the desired variance. We
take the data in Class A to find the variance of the scores obtained by
students. So we use =VAR(A2:A11). In the case of Class B, the same function
is used but the data in the cells from B2 to B 11 are considered. Thus, we use
=VAR(B2:B11).
In both instances, the Excel values match with the results using the
manual process. For larger number of scores in a distribution, Microsoft Excel
or other software is more appropriate and efficient in obtaining the variance
and standard deviation. This can be done in few seconds if you have already
entered and saved the data used to get the measure of central tendency. In
addition, the VAR and STDEV functions can still be used even if scores are
encoded in several columns and rows as shown in the next illustration.
where Sk = skewness
̅ = Mean
Mdn = median
SD = standard deviation
difference between mean and median moves farther from 0, the coefficient of
skewness changes to either lower or higher values.
Measures of Position
While measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion are
used often in assessment, there are other methods of describing data
distributions such as using measures of position or location. It is about the
score’s position in the distribution. What are these measures?
Figure 6. Quartiles
Note that in the above example, the upper and lower 50% contains
even center values, so the median in each half is the average of the two
center values. Consequently, applying the formula gives the quartile
Decile. It divides the distribution into 10 equal parts. There are 9 deciles such
that 10% of the distribution are equal or less than decile 1, (D 1), 20% of the
scores are equal or less than decile 2 (D2); and so on. A student whose mark
is below the first decile is said to belong in decile 1. A student whose mark is
above the 9th decile belongs to decile 10. If there are a small number of data
values, decile is not appropriate to use.
Percentile. It divides the distribution into one hundred equal parts. In the
same manner, for percentiles, there are 99 percentiles such that 1% of the
scores are less than the first percentile, 2% of the scores are less than the
second percentile, and so on. For example, if you scored 95 in a 100-item
test, and your percentile rank is 99th, then this means that 99% of those who
took the test performed lower than you. This also means that you belong to
the top 1% of those who took the test. In many cases, percentiles are wrongly
interpreted as percentage score. For example, 75% as a percentage score
means you get 75 items correct out of a hundred items, which is a mark or
grade reflecting performance level. But percentile is a measure of position
such that 75th percentile as your mark means 75% of the students who took
the test got lower score than you, or you score is located at the upper 25% of
the class who took the same test. For every large data set, percentile is
appropriate to use for accuracy. This is one reason why percentiles are
commonly used in national assessments or university entrance examinations
with large dataset or scores in thousands.
= 0.25
= 25%.
Suppose the mean score of students in science is 18 with standard
deviation of 5. The coefficient of variation is:
CVsci = (100)
= 0.277
= 28%.
Looking at 10 and 5 as the standard deviation of mathematics and
science scores, respectively, this may lead you to judge that the set of scores
in mathematics is twice more dispersed than scores in science. From the
computed coefficient of variations as measure of relative dispersion, we can
clearly see that the scores in mathematics are more homogenous than the
scores in science.
From the above figures, we can state the properties of the normal
distribution:
1. The mean, median, and more are all equal
2. The curve is symmetrical. As such, the value is a specific area on the
left is equal to the value of its corresponding area on the right.
3. The curve changes from concave to convex and approaches the X-
axis, but the tails do not touch the horizontal axis.
4. The total area on the curve is equal to 1.
Standard Scores
In the preceding sections, we discussed raw scores, which are the
original scores collected from an actual testing activity. However, there are
situations where computing measures from raw scores may not be enough.
Consider a situation where we, as a student, want to know in what subjects
we performed best and poorest to determine where you need to exert. Or
maybe in the past, you took entrance examinations in more than one
university and asked yourself in which university you performed best. In case
like these we cannot find the answer by merely relying on a single score.
More concretely, if you get a score of 86 in English and 90 in Physics, you
cannot conclude that you perform better in Physics than in English. This is
ridiculous because 90 is higher than 86. Say, you later learned that the mean
score of the class in English was 80, and in Physics, the mean score like 86
or 90 is not meaningful unless it compared with other test scores. In particular,
a score can be interpreted more meaningfully if we know the mean and
variability of the other scores where that single score belongs. Knowing this, a
raw score can be converted into standard scores.
Z-score. There are many kinds of standard scores. The most useful is the z-
score, which is often used to express a raw score relation to the mean and
standard deviation. This relationship is expressed in the following formula:
̅
From the above, if 86 and 90 are your scores in the two subjects, you
can confidently say that, compared with the rest of your class, you performed
better in English than in Physics. That is because in English, your
performance is 2 standard deviations above the mean, while in Physics, you
are 2.5 standard deviations below the mean. While 90 is numerically higher,
this score is more than half standard deviation below the average
performance of the class where you belong, while 86 is above the mean and
even 2 standard deviations above it. Having been transformed in the same
scale, the two graphs can be taken as one standard distribution of score.
We may want to look deeper into the scores. Note that in Figure 9, the
shaded areas in the two graphs indicate the proportion of scores below yours.
This is the same as saying that this proportion is the number of students in
your class who scored lower than you. But to be more specific on this
proportion, you need to look back at Figure 8 and the converted z-scores.
Examining the areas under the normal curve, we can say that about 98% in
the class scored below you in English, while only 1.2% scored below you in
Physics. We assume here that the scores are normally distributed. So, in what
subject makes you feel better?
T-Score. As you can see in the computation of the z-score, it can give us a
negative number, which simply means the score is below the mean. However,
communicating negative z-score as below the mean may not be
understandable to others. We will not even say to students that they got a
negative z-score. Also, a z-score may also be a repeating or non-repeating
decimal, which may not be comfortable for others. One option is to convert a
z-score into a T-score, which is a transformed standard score. To do this,
there is calling in which a mean of 0 in a z-score is transformed into mean of
50, and the standard deviation in a z-score is multiplied by 10. The
corresponding equation is:
T-score = 50 + 10z
T-score = 50 + 10 (-2)
= 50 - 20
= 30
= 50 + 20
= 70
Example:
Scores in stanine scale have some limitations. Since they are in a 9-
point scale and expressed as a whole number, they are not precise. Different
z-scores or T-scores may have stanine score equivalent.
With the above percentage distribution of scores in each stanine, you can
directly convert a set of raw scores into stanine scores. Simply arrange the
raw scores from lowest to highest, and with the percentage of scores in each
stanine, we can directly assign the appropriate stanine score in each raw
score. On interpretation of stanine score, let us say Kate has a stanine score
of 2. We can see that her score is somewhere at the low or bottom 7 percent
of the scores. In the same way, if John’s score is the 6 th stanine, it falls
between the 60th and 77th percentile, simply because 60 percent of the scores
are below the 6th stanine and 23 percent of the scores are above the 6 th
stanine. For qualitative description, stanine scores of 1, 2, and 3 are
considered as below average; 4, 5, and 6 are average, and 7, 8, and 9 are
above average. Thus, we can say that your score of 86 in English is above
average. Similarly, Kate’s score is below average while that of John is
average. Figure 11 illustrates the equivalence of the different commonly-used
standard scores.
Measures of Covariability
There are situations when we look at examinees’ performance
measures, and ask ourselves what could explain such scores. Measures of
covariablity tell us to a certain extent the relationship between two tests or
factors. Admittedly, a score one gets may not only be due to a single factor
but with other factors directly or indirectly observable which are also related to
one another. This section will be limited to introducing two scores that are
hypothesized to be related to one another.
When we are interested in finding the degree of relationship between
two scores, we are dealing with the correlation between two variables. The
statistical measure is the correlation coefficient, an index number that
ranges from -1.0 to +1.0. The value -1.0 indicates a negative perfect
correlation, 0.00 no correlation at all, and 1.00 a perfect positive correlation.
There have been many correlation studies conducted in the field of
assessment and research, but correlation coefficient values are either closer
to +1.0 or -1.0.
The various types of relationships are illustrated in the following
scatter-plot diagrams:
First, we will encode the two (2) sets of raw data representing X and Y
in either two columns or rows in Excel as shown in the next illustration. At any
free cell, type =CORREL(A3:A12,B3:B12) as reflected in the worksheet. The
A3:A12 are the cell addresses of the first variable X, while B3:B12 are the cell
addresses of the second variable Y. Take note that the cell ranges of the 2
variables are separated by a comma.
In contrast, the manual process will give us this complex process and
the same result.
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10
Problem-solving
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15
Reading
Summary
Measures of central tendency include the mean, median and mode.
Mean is the average of given sets of scores. You should add the
numbers up then divide by the number of the cases.
Median is the number in the middle when you order the numbers in an
ascending order. If there are two numbers in the middle, you should
take the average of those two numbers.
Mode is the number which is repeated the most in the set.
Measures of dispersion include the range, interquartile range, semi-
interquartile range, quartile deviation, variance and standard deviation.
The range of a dataset is the difference between the largest and
smallest values in that dataset.
The interquartile range is the middle half of the data that is in between
the upper and lower quartiles. Dividing this by 2 gives us the quartile
deviation.
Variance is the average squared difference of the values from the
mean. Unlike the previous measures of variability, the variance
includes all values in the calculation by comparing each value to the
mean.
The standard deviation is the standard or typical difference between
each data point and the mean.
Measures of location can be categorized as percentile, decile and
quartile.
| ERNIE C. CERADO, PhD & MA. DULCE P. DELA CERNA, MIE 35
SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY
Assessment
A. Answer the following questions orally.
1. What are the measures of central tendency?
2. What are the measures of dispersion?
3. What are the measures of position?
4. What is covariability?
5. Differentiate the different ways of converting raw scores into standard
scores?
B. Given the following test scores in Math: 5, 20, 13, 15, 12, 19, 20, 10, 17,
11& 16.
1. What is the mean? How did you find it?
2. What is the median? Why did you say it is the median?
3. What is the mode? How did you determine this measure?
C. Examine the following frequency polygons below:
empirical data that are experiential and will depict the true picture in the
field of education.
Activity 1
Identify yourself in a group of four classmates. Here is the task you need to
work your team members.
Secure a set of old test papers that have been scored by a teacher or a
student teacher. It is advised that number of cases be at least 100. It is
understood that the 100 scores came from the same test. See to it that
you observe confidentially of the documents you have requested. No
name should be identified in your written work, but use codes to
identify the observations or cases.
Here are the tasks:
1. Prepare a data set for the test scores.
2. With the aid of your scientific calculator, or Microsoft Office Excel,
find the following:
a. Mean
b. Median
c. Mode
3. Describe the type of distribution of test scores.
4. Which measure of central tendency is most appropriate to describe
the distribution? Why do you say so? Explain.
5. Select three (3) students in the list. Describe the test performance
of each student relative to the performance of all the students in the
whole class.
Activity 2
Interview a teacher on how she decides to pass or fail a student. Report the
specific questions that you have asked and the corresponding responses you
have captured in this interview activity. Your analysis and presentation should
reflect the application of the measures of central tendency, measures of
variability, and of the measures of location.
Activity 3
With your team members, make a visit to any of the following offices of a
school:
1. Office of the Guidance Councilor
2. Testing Center
3. Office of Student Affairs
Request for any of the following data which you can avail of:
1. IQ test scores
2. Aptitude test scores
3. Admission test scores
4. Qualifying examination scores
5. Any psychological test scores
It is advised that the number of observations should at least be 50. The
larger the number of cases would be better.
Please emphasize the data will be held in full confidentiality. They have
the option not to give the names of the examinees as ethical consideration.
Do not apply coding technique to label the different observation.
From the test scores that you have gathered, do the following:
1. Make a frequency distribution of the test scores.
2. Find the following measures: mean, median, and mode.
3. Describe the type of distribution.
4. Determine the most appropriate measure of central tendency to
describe the average IQ/Aptitude/Performance of the examinees.
5. For those who gather IQ test scores, interview the personnel in-charge
on how they interpret the numerical value of IQ test scores (as above
average, average, etc. whatever applies).
6. Find the standard deviation.
7. Consider at least 5 student scores in you data set and try computing
the ff:
a. z-scores
b. T-scores
c. Percentile equivalent
d. Stanine scores
8. Make a report you your class on the following:
| ERNIE C. CERADO, PhD & MA. DULCE P. DELA CERNA, MIE 42
SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY
a. How do you find the mean if data are grouped? What is the most
appropriate class interval for this set of data? What other information
you need to generate and achieve the task of what is the mean?
b. How do we determine the median of the scores?
Examine the values you have written in the table. Discuss the graph in
relation to the values in the table.
References
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McLeod, Saul (2019). Introduction to the Normal Distribution (Bell Curve).
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definition-formula-example.html
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