Median is most appropriate when the data have...

Median is most appropriate when the data have...

• A. If the data are unimodal.
• B. If the data have no outliers.
• C. If the data are normally distributed.
• D. Outliers far outside the distribution.

Answer: (D)

The median is a robust measure of center that isn’t pulled toward extreme values. When there are outliers far from the rest of the data, the mean shifts toward those outliers, which can give a misleading sense of the typical value. The median, being the middle value, remains largely unaffected by those extremes, so it better represents the typical observation in such distributions. If there are no outliers or the data are normally distributed, the mean and median are similar, but the presence of outliers makes the median the more appropriate choice.

The median is a robust measure of center that isn’t pulled toward extreme values. When there are outliers far from the rest of the data, the mean shifts toward those outliers, which can give a misleading sense of the typical value. The median, being the middle value, remains largely unaffected by those extremes, so it better represents the typical observation in such distributions. If there are no outliers or the data are normally distributed, the mean and median are similar, but the presence of outliers makes the median the more appropriate choice.