Median

In communication research, it is common for researchers to report measures of central tendency (i.e., averages) to summarize the sample. The most common reported measures of central tendency are the mean, median, and mode. This entry focuses on the median. Specifically, this entry provides examples of how to calculate the median, common median notations and formulas, and discusses some of the benefits and drawbacks of calculating the median.

Defining the Median

In statistics the median refers to the “middle number” in a set of participants’ data scores or observations. The median is the number separating the higher half of the scores from the lower half. The median value is calculated in two ways, depending on whether the number of scores is ...

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