Calculating the Mean and Median of a Data Set: Apply It 2

Now let’s go to the technology to calculate the precise values for mean and median.

Go to the Describing and Exploring Quantitative Variables tool at https://dcmathpathways.shinyapps.io/EDA_quantitative/.

Step 1) Select the Single Group tab.

Step 2) Locate the drop-down menu under Enter Data and select From Textbook.

Step 3) Locate the drop-down menu under Data Set and select Sleep Study: Poor Sleep Quality Score. If desired, select Histogram under Choose Type of Plot. Under Select Binwidth for Histogram, use 1 to emulate the histogram in the image above.

The tool will display descriptive statistics and a distribution for the quantitative variable PoorSleepQuality from the study’s data set. Recall that this variable records individual responses to a measure of sleep quality, with higher numbers indicating poorer sleep.

Record the calculated values for mean and median of Poor Sleep Quality Score in the table in Question 3 below.

Step 4) Change the Data Set selection to Alcoholic Drinks Per Week and record the calculated values for mean and median of Alcoholic Drinks Per Week in the table below.

question 3

question 4

question 5

video placement

[sub-summary: surfaces only after Q 2 – 5 have been answered. “Did you find it difficult to estimate the centers of the data using the histograms? If your estimations compared well with the calculations from the tool, you may have instinctively used visual estimations of “weight” to estimate the mean or estimations of frequency counts to estimate the median. Show an analysis using these ideas on the two graphs to model the behavior of estimation for the students. Show the analysis of mean and median calculated by the tool.  ]

Let’s now compare quality of sleep and alcohol consumption habits between those who identified as owls, larks, or neither.