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When To Use Mean Median Mode

The best measure of central tendency depends on the type of variable and distribution of the data. For nominal variables, the mode is best. For ordinal variables and skewed interval/ratio variables, the median is best. For interval/ratio variables with a symmetrical distribution, the mean is best. The median and mode are preferred over the mean for skewed data or data with outliers, as the mean can be distorted by outliers or skewness. All continuous data has a mean, median and mode, while nominal data only has a mode and ordinal data only has a median and mode.

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149 views2 pages

When To Use Mean Median Mode

The best measure of central tendency depends on the type of variable and distribution of the data. For nominal variables, the mode is best. For ordinal variables and skewed interval/ratio variables, the median is best. For interval/ratio variables with a symmetrical distribution, the mean is best. The median and mode are preferred over the mean for skewed data or data with outliers, as the mean can be distorted by outliers or skewness. All continuous data has a mean, median and mode, while nominal data only has a mode and ordinal data only has a median and mode.

Uploaded by

Madison Hartfield
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Summary of when to use the mean, median and mode

Please use the following summary table to know what the best measure of central
tendency is with respect to the different types of variable.

Type of Variable Best measure of central tendency


Nominal Mode
Ordinal Median
Interval/Ratio (not skewed) Mean
Interval/Ratio (skewed) Median

FAQs - Measures of Central Tendency

What is the best measure of central tendency? 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..

In a strongly skewed distribution, what is the best indicator of central tendency? It is usually
inappropriate to use the mean in such situations where your data is skewed. You would normally choose the
median or mode, with the median usually preferred.

Does all data have a median, mode and mean? Yes and no. All continuous data has a median, mode
and mean. However, strictly speaking, ordinal data has a median and mode only, and nominal data has only a
mode. However, a consensus has not been reached among statisticians about whether the mean can be used with
ordinal data, and you can often see a mean reported for Likert data in research.

When is the mean the best measure of central tendency? The mean is usually the best measure of central
tendency to use when your data distribution is continuous and symmetrical, such as when your data is normally
distributed. However, it all depends on what you are trying to show from your data.

When is the mode the best measure of central tendency? The mode is the least used of the measures of
central tendency and can only be used when dealing with nominal data. For this reason, the mode will be the
best measure of central tendency (as it is the only one appropriate to use) when dealing with nominal data. The
mean and/or median are usually preferred when dealing with all other types of data, but this does not mean it is
never used with these data types.

When is the median the best measure of central tendency? The median is usually preferred to other
measures of central tendency when your data set is skewed (i.e., forms a skewed distribution) or you are dealing
with ordinal data. However, the mode can also be appropriate in these situations, but is not as commonly used
as the median.
What is the most appropriate measure of central tendency when the data has outliers? The median is
usually preferred in these situations because the value of the mean can be distorted by the outliers. However, it
will depend on how influential the outliers are. If they do not significantly distort the mean, using the mean as
the measure of central tendency will usually be preferred.

In a normally distributed data set, which is greatest: mode, median or mean? If the data set is perfectly
normal, the mean, median and mean are equal to each other (i.e., the same value).

For any data set, which measures of central tendency have only one value? The median and mean can
only have one value for a given data set. The mode can have more than one value 

Measures of central tendency are very useful in Statistics. Their importance is because of the following reasons:

1. To find representative value:

Measures of central tendency or averages give us one value for the distribution and this value represents the entire
distribution. In this way averages convert a group of figures into one value.

2. To condense data:

Collected and classified figures are vast. To condense these figures we use average. Average converts the whole set of
figures into just one figure and thus helps in condensation.

3. To make comparisons:

To make comparisons of two or more than two distributions, we have to find the representative values of these
distributions. These representative values are found with the help of measures of the central tendency.

4. Helpful in further statistical analysis:

Many techniques of statistical analysis like Measures of Dispersion, Measures of Skewness, Measures of Correlation,
and Index Numbers are based on measures of central tendency. That is why; measures of central tendency are also
called as measures of the first order.

Seeing this importance of averages in statistics, Prof. Bowley said "Statistics may rightly be called as science of
averages."

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