In: Statistics and Probability
Often times, we are not told to use a mean or a proportion, but we should know which is the best method for measuring our data.
Explain, what type of data would it be most appropriate to use a mean and what type of data would it be most appropriate to use a proportion?
The population proportion in the case of qualitative characteristic can be estimated in a similar way as the estimation of population mean in the case of quantitative characteristic.
Mean is the average value of any sample( or data) while the sample proportion is amount of the sample that shares a commonality relative to its whole.
The mean (or average) is the most popular and well known measure of central tendency. It can be used with both discrete and continuous data, although its use is most often with continuous data .Mean. Measure is most often chosen when the data is continuous and symmetrical (normal). If the data has outliers or is skewed, then the mean would paint a skewed view of centrality. Mean should be used carefully with ordinal data.
A population proportion is a parameter that describes a percentage value associated with a population. We can use the proportion if data type is nominal (categorical).
If we expressing the proportional relationship of one value to another then we working with quantitative data.