MEASURES OF LOCATION

To have a quick overview of the behavior of the data, graphs and frequency
distributions are helpful tools since trends in the data are easily seen. However, these tools
fail to provide us with measures which could quantitatively summarize the characteristics of
the population or the sample. Therefore, other measurable characteristics of the data are
needed to further describe the population or sample.

Quantities that describe statistical data are called numerical descriptive measures.
They are computed from a given set of observation and are used to derive information from
data collected by the researcher. There are several descriptive measures but we are limiting
them to the measures of location and dispersion only.

A measure of location is a value within the range of the data which describes its
location or position relative to the entire set of data. The more commonly used measures are:
minimum, maximum, measure of central tendency, and the fractiles (percentile, decile, and
quartile).

I. Measure of central tendency

A measure of central tendency or location (MCT) is a single value about which the
observations tend to cluster. It represents the typical value in the data set; it describes
the “center” of the data, hence the term “central tendency”.

A) The arithmetic mean is defined as the sum of all observations divided by the total
number of observations.
POPULATION SAMPLE
N n

X i X i
= i =1
X = i =1
N n
where N is the total number of elements in where n is the total number of elements in
the population the sample

Properties:
a. All observations are utilized in the computation.
N
b. The sum of the deviations from the mean is equal to zero, that is,  (X
i =1
i − ) = 0

c. The sum of the squared deviations from the mean is smallest, that is,
N

(X − a ) is minimum if a = µ
2
i
i =1
d. The mean is easily affected by the presence of extreme values hence it is not a good
measure of central tendency when extreme values occur.
e. Applicable only to quantitative data.
f. It is unique.

B) The median is a single quantity that divides an array of observations into two equal
parts such that half of the observations are above and half are below it.

𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑖𝑓 𝑁 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑑𝑑

OR
𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎
𝑖𝑓 𝑁 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛
Properties:
a. It uses the middle value or the two middle values in the computation.
b. It is not affected by the presence of extreme values.
c. It is unique.
d. Applicable to quantitative data only
e. It is fixed by its position.
 34
C) The mode is the value that occurs most frequently in a given data set.

Properties:
a. Most frequent value
b. Applicable to both quantitative and qualitative data
c. Given distribution may have more than one mode, hence it is not unique
d. Cannot be manipulated algebraically

Example: The sample data of the hourly wage (in pesos) of eleven highly skilled
workers are shown below. Find the mean, median, and mode.

P125, 120, 123, 135, 133, 500, 130, 125, 130, 120, 130
1. Mean
Solution:
11

X i
125 + 120 + 123 + 135 + 133 + 500 + 130 + 125 + 130 + 120 + 130
X = i =1
=
11 11
1771
=
11
= P161 per hour

2. Median
Solution: Arrange first the data in ascending order.

120, 120, 123, 125, 125, 130, 130, 130, 133, 135, 500

Since n is odd, the centermost value is 130. Thus the median hourly wage is
Xˆ D = P130 .

Suppose the highest value in the data set is omitted. The new median hourly
wage is now the average of the two middle values in a set of ten ordered data
values, that is,

Xˆ D =
(125 + 130 ) = 127.5
2

3. Mode
Solution: Since the most frequent value in the data set is P130, the modal

hourly wage is X O = P130 .

MEASURES OF LOCATION
 35
EXERCISE 1

Name:____________________________ Score:____________

Yr/Crs/Sec:_______________________ Date:_____________

Problem Solving:

Data: 10, 40, 25, 50, 20, 10, 25, 50, 30, 10, 50, 15, 25, 50, 10, 30, 5, 25, 45, and 15. Treating
the data as a population, calculate the following:

a. minimum
b. maximum
c. mean
d. median
e. mode

MEASURES OF LOCATION
 36
II. Other measures of Location
The measure of central tendency refers only to the center of the entire set of data, but
there are other measures of location that describe or locate the non-central position of this
set of data. The measures are referred to as quantiles or fractiles. The fractiles we will
consider are the percentiles, deciles, and quartiles.

2.1 Percentiles

Percentiles are values that divide an ordered set of observations into 100 equal
parts. These values, denoted by P1, P2, …,, P99, are such that 1% of the data falls
below P1, 2% falls below P2, …, and 99% falls below P99.

2.2 Deciles

Deciles are values that divide an ordered set of observations into 10 equal parts,
These values, denoted by D1, D2, …,, D9, are such that 10% of the data falls below
D1, 20% falls below D2, …, and 90% falls below D9.

2.3 Quartiles

Quartiles are values that divide an ordered set of observations into 4 equal parts,
These values, denoted by Q1, Q2, and Q3, are such that 25% of the data falls below
Q1, 50% falls below Q2, and 75% falls below Q3.

Procedure for the computation of the Fractiles:

1. Arrange the data in an increasing order of magnitude.
2. Solve for the value of L, where
 mn
100 for Percentile s

 mn
L= for Deciles
 10
 mn
 4 for Quartiles

where m is the location of the fractile and n is the number of observations

3. If L is an integer, the desired fractile is the average of the Lth and the
(L + 1)th observations that is,
Lth + (L + 1)th
2
If L is fractional, get the NEXT HIGHER INTEGER to find the required location. The
fractile corresponds to the value in that location.

Example: Given the data set: 12, 14, 14, 15, 16, 16, 23, 24, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,
30, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 40, 42, 46, 50.

Find P35.
Solution: Since the values are in ascending order already, there is no need to
arrange them anymore.

We use L = mn/100 since we are looking for a percentile.

So, L = (35)(26)/100 = 9.1≈10 10th observation

Therefore, P35 = 10th observation = 25

Interpretation: Hence, 35% of the data values are less than 25 and 65% are greater
than 25.

MEASURES OF LOCATION
 37
Find D5.
Solution:
We use L = mn/10 since we are looking for a decile.
So, L = (5)(26)/10 = 13→ 13th observation = 28

Since L is a whole number, find L+1 = 13+1 = 14→14 th obs = 29

Therefore, D5=(13th observation+14th observation)/2 = (28+29)/2= 28.5

Interpretation: Hence, 50% of the data values are less than 28.5 and 50% are greater
than 28.5.

III. Box-and-Whisker Plots

Box-and-whisker plots are used to display a set of data so that one can easily see
where most of the values are. They are also called five-number summaries since five values
(minimum, maximum, first quartile, median, and the third quartile) are computed prior to their
construction. The plots show the center, the spread, and the overall range of distribution.

The example below shows the steps in constructing a box-and-whisker plot.

Write the data in numerical order
and find the first quartile, the
median, the third quartile, the
smallest value and the largest value.

median1 = 80
first quartile2 = 70
third quartile3 = 90
smallest value = 65
largest value = 100
1
The median is the centermost
value in an ordered set of data if the
total number of elements is odd.
Otherwise, the median is simply the
average of the two middle values.
2
The first quartile is the median of
the values that are lower than the
median.
3
The third quartile is the median of
the values that are greater than the
median.

Place a circle beneath each of these

values on a number line.

Draw a box with ends through the

points for the first and third
quartiles. Then draw a vertical line
through the box at the median point.

Now, draw the whiskers (or lines)

from each end of the box to the
smallest and largest values.

MEASURES OF LOCATION
 38
Interpretation of the box-and-whisker plot shown above:

The data values were as low as 65 and as high as 100. So the range of the data is
35 (100-65).

25% of the data are less than the first quartile.

25% of the data are between the first quartile and the main median (second quartile).

25% of the data are between the main median and the third quartile.

25% of the data are greater than the third quartile.

50% of the data are between the first and third quartile.

75% of the data are less than the third quartile.

Box-and-whisker plots are very useful in comparing data of different

distributions. Take for instance the box-and-whisker plot of the GPA between male
and female student paid laborers (SPL) in the University of Southern Mindanao
during the first semester of SY 2008-2009. Note that the plots are shown vertically.

3.5

3.0 119
65

37
130

2.5
GPA

2.0

1.5 104

1.0
Male Female

GENDER

It can be said that the median GPAs between genders are relatively the same
centering on 2.0. Comparatively, the female GPAs are more spread than their male
counterparts as evidenced by wider distance of Q1 & Q3 from the median and the
longer whiskers extending to both ends of the maximum and minimum grades.
Outliers may seem to be present in the female GPAs.

MEASURES OF LOCATION
 39
EXERCISE 2

Name:____________________________ Score:____________

Yr/Crs/Sec:_______________________ Date:_____________

1. The following are the score of 20 students in the USM entrance test:
210 420 119 199 230
220 228 141 201 420
220 310 236 301 364
309 430 151 310 299

Find P80 and D6. Interpret your results meaningfully.

2. The data below are the diastolic heart rates while the respondents are lying on a folding
bed. Scores are in beats/min.
62 85 92 85 88 71
73 82 84 89 93 75
81 72 97 78 90 87
78 74 61 66 83 68
67 83 75 70 86 72
Construct the box-and-whisker plot of the scores and interpret your results.

MEASURES OF LOCATION