What is the mean and how do I use it?
The mean is the most commonly used measure of central tendency and is considered a descriptive statistic. In practical terms, it is the sum of all the values in a data set divided by the number of values. It is a single value that can summarize the value of many of the scores in the data set. It represents the middle of the score distribution, hence the term “measure of central tendency.” A simple version of the formula would be: Mean = sum of the scores ÷ number of scores.
Example: 10+12+15+22+14+19+20=112 ÷ 7=16
The mean of a sample is most often represented by an uppercase X with a bar over it or by using M. The mean of a population is traditionally represented using the Greek letter “mu”: μ.
A drawback in using the mean to describe a set of scores is that it is sensitive to extreme scores; a few very large or very small values can pull the mean in a direction away from the value representing the bulk of the other scores. For example, the mean of the scores 7, 8, 9, 8, 9, 8, 50 is 14. However, that mean value does not represent most scores in the set; since the mean is pulled toward the extreme score of 50. Other interesting characteristics of the mean are that changing the value of one or more scores in a data set will change the mean and adding or subtracting scores to the set can also change the mean value. Means are often used in a comparative way to understand sets of data. For example, if students in classroom A had a mean grade of 85% and classroom B had a mean of 75%, you can quickly determine which class generally performed better.
A quick and easy way to calculate this measure is to use the “average” function in Excel. You can see how to perform it here.
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