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2. The Mode

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about the mode, focusing in particular on: (i) a unique feature of the mode as a measure of central tendency, being that there can be more than one (e.g., two most common scores in bimodal data); (ii) the indications that a bimodal (or any numbers of multiple modes) dataset gives the reader regarding why those multiple modes might be present; (iii) the potential for there to not be a mode in a set of data, if all data points are unique; (iv) the lack of sensitivity the mode has to outliers, which can be a disadvantage or advantage, depending on the requirements of the data analysis.

Course

In this course, Professor Dominic Dwyer (Cardiff University) explores descriptive statistics. In the first lecture, we think about why descriptive statistics are important. In the second lecture, we think about the mode and its representation of the most common score. In the third lecture, we think about the median and how it is only minimally sensitive to outlying scores. Next, we think about the mean and standard deviation, exploring how to calculate each one. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about how these different measures of central tendency and dispersion can be appropriate for different datasets.

Lecturer

Professor Dominic Dwyer is the chair for the BSc and MSc exam boards in the School of Psychology at Cardiff University. Professor Dwyer teaches introductory statistics for undergraduate years one and two. Professor Dwyer’s research is primarily focused on how animals and people learn, as well as how that learning is expressed as behaviour. Some key focus areas of this research are computational modelling, neurodegenerative disorders, and the assessment of individual differences. Some of Professor Dwyer’s recent publications include 'EXPRESS: Instrumental responses and Pavlovian stimuli as temporal referents in a peak procedure' (2022) and 'Face masks have emotion-dependent dissociable effects on accuracy and confidence in identifying facial expressions of emotion' (2022).