A professor has been asked to teach a course in social scien

A professor has been asked to teach a course in social science statistics off-campus to a class of graduate students enrolled in the Continuing Education Program of the University. Because the professor has never taught in this program before, he does not know a great deal about the needs and backgrounds of the students in the class. In order to learn more about the students, on the first day of class he obtains from each of them the following information: age, major field as an undergraduate student, number of statistics courses taken previously, and interest in conducting empirical research (coded low, medium, high). This information is listed below: Student A Age Major 24Poli Sci 55 Zoology 26 Botany 55 Sociology 22 Poli Sci Sociology 24 Poli Sci 55 Forestry 56 Engineering 10 53 Poli Sci II 26 Chemistry 12 24 Sociology 13 54 Physics 14 51 Sociology S 55 Poli Sci 16 25 Poli Sci 17 24 Sociology Statistics Courses Research Interest High High Low Low Low Medium Medium Low High Medium Medium Low High High Low Medium Medium For the two variables “Age\" and \"Research Interest\", which measure(s) of central tendency would it be most useful for the professor to bear in mind as he conducts the class, ie., which measures) yield(s) the most typical or representative value for the class of students? Briefly explain your answer. Fill in the following Table 1

Solution

//////**There can often be a \"best\" measure of central tendency with regards to the data you are analysing, but there is no one \"best\" measure of central tendency. This is because whether you use the median, mean or mode will depend on the type of data you have (see our Types of Variable guide), such as nominal or continuous data; whether your data has outliers and/or is skewed; and what you are trying to show from your data.**///

AGE

for age the best central tendency measure is mean

reason : because in the data no outlier is present. Hence in absence of outlier mean is best measure of central tendency.

Research Interest

for Research Interest the best central tendency measure is mode.

reason : the response for the Research Interest should be an integer. and the professor count the maximum frequency of the interest so that it will help him in give lesson.