A survey item asked students to indicate their class in college: freshman,sophomore,junior,or senior. Which measure(s)of central location would be appropriate for the data generated by that questionnaire item?
A)Mean and median
B)Mean and mode
C)Mode and median
D)Mode only

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The class in college is a categorical variable, and therefore it does not make sense to calculate the mean. The mode would indicate the most frequently reported class, while the median would give the midpoint of the distribution. Therefore, mode and median would be appropriate measures of central location for this data. The option B) of mean and mode is not appropriate for categorical variables. The option A) of mean and median may lead to an incorrect interpretation of the data as class in college is not a continuous variable. Finally, option D) of mode only is not adequate, because the distribution may have more than one common class.

A Survey Item Asked Students to Indicate Their Class in College