Below are the annual salaries (in thousands of dollars) of workers in Wilson Widget factory: 20 , 20 , 23 , 23 , 23 , 25 , 25 , 25 , 25 , 28 , 28 , 28 , 29 , 29 , 29 , 32 , 32 , 33 , 36 , 40 , 40 , 65 Which measure of central tendency should you use to describe the average salary?
A) standard deviation, since most of the salaries are close together
B) mode, since there are many identical salaries
C) range, since there are more than 15 salaries
D) mean, since there are less than 50 salaries
E) median, since there is an outlying salary

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The median is the best measure of central tendency to use in this case because there is an outlier (the salary of 65 thousand dollars) that would skew the mean, making it not representative of the typical salary. The median, being the middle value when the data is ordered, is not affected by outliers and thus provides a better central value for the data set.

Below Are the Annual Salaries (In Thousands of Dollars) of Workers