Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

Univariate Analysis 569
TABLE 19.7
Data on Female Illiteracy in 10 Countries (from Table 19.8) Showing How the Sum of
the Deviations from the Mean of a Distribution Is Zero
FEMILLIT
Score Mean
COUNTRY x x x
Armenia 2.4 2.4 19.49 17.09
Chad 66.0 66.0 19.49 46.51
El Salvador 23.8 23.8 19.49 4.31
Ghana 37.1 37.1 19.49 17.61
Iran 30.1 30.1 19.49 10.61
Latvia 0.2 0.2 19.49 19.29
Namibia 18.8 18.8 19.49 0.69
Panama 8.7 8.7 19.49 10.79
Slovenia 0.4 0.4 19.49 19.09
Suriname 7.4 7.4 19.49 12.09
Scores below the mean
x 194.9 x x 0.00
x 194.9/10 19.49
Scores above the mean
17.09 46.51
19.29 17.61
0.69 4.31
10.79 10.61
19.09
12.09
Total deviation 79.04 Total deviation 79.04
below the mean
above the mean
over the age of 15 who are illiterate. This feature of the mean figures prominently
in the calculation of variance, which is coming up in the section on
measures of dispersion.
The data in table 19.7 are a random sample of the data in table 19.8. That
table shows some social indicators for 50 randomly selected countries around
the world. We’ll be using the data in table 19.8 as we go along in the next few
chapters.
The Outlier Problem
The mean is one of the all-time great statistics, but it has one very important
drawback: In small samples, it’s heavily influenced by special cases, called