Statistical Averages

Statistical Averages: -

Human mind can’t understand and differentiate the sophisticated data. Using classification and tabulation a mass of data can be represented in the short and understandable frequency distribution. However, these methods do not represent the all important characteristics of the series of data. According to Ronald A Fisher “The inherent ability of the human mind to grasp, in the entirety, a large body of numerical data, forces us to seek relatively few constants that will adequately describe the data.” To represent the characteristics of a group of data in a summary we need to calculate the measures of central tendency.

Definition of Statistical average as given by different users:

1. According to Croxton and Cowden

“An average is a single value within the range of the data that is used to represent all of the values in the series. Since an average is somewhere within the range of data, it is sometime called a measure of central value.”

2. According to Clark

          “An average is an attempt to find one single figure to describe whole of figure.”

3. According to A.E. Waugh

          “An average is a single value selected from a group of values to represent them in some way – a value which is supported to stand for whole group, of which it is a part, as typical of all the values in the group.”

4. According to Simpson and Kafka

          “A measure of central tendency is a typical value around which other figures congregate.”

5. Kellog and Smith

          “An average is sometime called a ‘measure of central tendency’ because individual values of the variable usually cluster around it.”

On the basis of above definition we can say that “An average is a single value that represents a group of value. Such a value is of great significance because it represents the characteristics of the whole group. This value of average is frequently referred to as a measure of central tendency.