ABSTRACT
The most frequently used central measure is the mean, which is the balance point in a distribution. The most common symbols for the mean in academic journals are M and m. While the mean is the most frequently used average, when a distribution is highly skewed, researchers use a different average: the median. To get an approximate median, put the scores in order from low to high as they are for Groups A and B, and then count to the middle. The mode is sometimes used in informal reporting but is very seldom reported in formal reports of research. Note that the mode does not always have a unique value. Note that the mode does not always have a unique value. Measures of central tendency is a term that is seldom used in reports of scientific research, but it is often encountered in research and statistics textbooks when describing the mean, median, and mode.
