Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences by Frederick J. Gravetter, Larry B. Wallnau ISBN 10: 1305504917 ISBN 13: 9781305504912

SECTION 3.4 | The Mode 83
2. What is the median for the following set of scores:
a. 11
b. 11.5
c. 12
d. 70
6 = 11.67
Scores: 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15
3. For the sample shown in the frequency distribution table, what is the median?
a. 3
b. 3.5
c. 4
d. 15
2 = 7.5
X
f
5 1
4 5
3 4
2 1
1 1
ANSWERS
1. C, 2. B, 3. B
3.4 The Mode
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
7. Define and identify the mode(s) for a distribution, including the major and minor
modes for a binomial distribution.
The final measure of central tendency that we will consider is called the mode. In its common
usage, the word mode means “the customary fashion” or “a popular style.” The statistical
definition is similar in that the mode is the most common observation among a group
of scores.
DEFINITION
In a frequency distribution, the mode is the score or category that has the greatest
frequency.
As with the median, there are no symbols or special notation used to identify the mode
or to differentiate between a sample mode and a population mode. In addition, the definition
of the mode is the same for a population and for a sample distribution.
The mode is a useful measure of central tendency because it can be used to determine
the typical or most frequent value for any scale of measurement, including a nominal
scale (see Chapter 1). Consider, for example, the data shown in Table 3.4. These data were
obtained by asking a sample of 100 students to name their favorite restaurants in town. The
result is a sample of n = 100 scores with each score corresponding to the restaurant that
the student named.
For these data, the mode is Luigi’s, the restaurant (score) that was named most frequently
as a favorite place. Although we can identify a modal response for these data, you
should notice that it would be impossible to compute a mean or a median. Specifically,