A researcher has measured self-esteem for a sample of 40 first-grade children.The researcher would like to divide the children into two equal‑sized groups consisting of the high self-esteem kids and the low self-esteem kids.Which statistical measure will identify the correct score to serve as the boundary between the high and the low self-esteem groups?
A)the mean
B)the median
C)the mode
D)the standard deviation

Question

A researcher has measured self-esteem for a sample of 40 first-grade children.The researcher would like to divide the children into two equal‑sized groups consisting of the high self-esteem kids and the low self-esteem kids.Which statistical measure will identify the correct score to serve as the boundary between the high and the low self-esteem groups?
A)​the mean
B)​the median
C)the mode
D)​the standard deviation

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The median is the best choice to divide the children into two equal-sized groups because it represents the middle score when the data is ordered from lowest to highest. Since the sample size is even (40), the median will be the average of the 20th and 21st scores when the data is ordered. This will ensure that half of the children have high self-esteem scores and half have low self-esteem scores. The mean and standard deviation are affected by extreme scores and may not accurately represent the typical score in the sample. The mode is not relevant since we are not looking for the most common score, but rather the boundary between the two groups.

A Researcher Has Measured Self-Esteem for a Sample of 40