Office workers were asked how long it took them to travel to work one morning.Here is the stem-and-leaf display.
Would you use the median or the mean to describe the centre of this distribution?
A)Mean,because the data are skewed to the right.
B)Median,because the data are skewed to the left.
C)Mean,because the data are skewed to the left.
D)Mean,because the data are symmetric.
E)Median,because the data are skewed to the right.

Question

Office workers were asked how long it took them to travel to work one morning.Here is the stem-and-leaf display. 
Would you use the median or the mean to describe the centre of this distribution?
A)Mean,because the data are skewed to the right. 
B)Median,because the data are skewed to the left. 
C)Mean,because the data are skewed to the left. 
D)Mean,because the data are symmetric. 
E)Median,because the data are skewed to the right.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A stem-and-leaf display shows a skewed distribution with a long tail to the right. This suggests that the data are not normally distributed and therefore the median is a better measure of central tendency than the mean. Hence, the best choice is E, which suggests using the median.

Office Workers Were Asked How Long It Took Them to Travel