LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY, EPE CAMPUS
AN ASSIGNMENT
ON
ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (CPE 815)
BY
SUBMITTED
TO
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND POLYMER ENGINEERING
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
September, 2024
Introduction
This analysis examines the distribution of test scores for 64 students in a class. The
objective is to determine key statistical measures such as the mean, median, mode, range,
and standard deviation, along with constructing the cumulative frequency curve. The data
is grouped into class intervals for further analysis, and insights into central tendency,
dispersion, and skewness are discussed based on the cumulative frequency plots.
Data Table
The table below contains the raw test scores (in percentage) of the 64 students:
Row Scores
1 79, 88, 75, 60, 93, 71, 59, 85
2 84, 75, 82, 68, 90, 62, 88, 76
3 65, 75, 82, 74, 62, 95, 74, 63
4 78, 82, 75, 91, 77, 69, 75, 68
5 67, 73, 81, 72, 63, 76, 76, 85
6 80, 73, 57, 78, 85, 78, 76, 68
7 62, 67, 97, 88, 78, 65, 78, 53
8 78, 89, 61, 75, 95, 65, 79, 83
Class Intervals and Frequency Distribution
The data was grouped into the following class intervals for analysis:
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Cumulative
Class Cumulative Frequency
Tally Frequency Frequency (Less
Interval (Greater Than)
Than)
50-54 | 1 1 64
55-59 || 2 3 62
60-64 |||| | 6 9 56
65-69 |||| || 7 16 49
70-74 |||| |||| 9 25 40
75-79 |||| |||| |||| 15 40 25
80-84 |||| || 7 47 18
85-89 |||| | 6 53 11
90-94 |||| 4 57 7
95-99 |||| 4 64 0
Statistical Calculations
2. Mean Score
The mean is calculated as:
∑(f × x }
Mean=
∑f
Where:
f is the frequency of each class interval.
x is the midpoint of each class interval.
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Calculation:
Class Interval Midpoint (x) Frequency f f×x
50-54 52 1 52
55-59 57 2 114
60-64 62 6 372
65-69 67 7 469
70-74 72 9 648
75-79 77 15 1155
80-84 82 7 574
85-89 87 6 522
90-94 92 4 368
95-99 97 4 388
Sum of f ×x = 4662
Sum of f = 64
4662
Mean= =72.91
64
Thus, the mean score is 72.91.
3. The Modal Score:
The mode is the value that appears most frequently in the dataset.
From the class interval frequency table, the interval with the highest frequency is 75-79,
with a frequency of 15. Therefore, the modal score is in the range 75-79.
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4.0 Median Score
The median is the middle score in a sorted dataset. Since there are 64 scores, the median
is the average of the 32nd and 33rd scores:
Median = (76 + 76) / 2 = 76
Thus, the median score is 76.
5.0 Range
The range is the difference between the highest and the lowest scores:
Range = 97 - 53 = 44
Thus, the range is 44.
Mean Deviation
6. The Mean Deviation:
The mean deviation measures how much the scores deviate from the mean. It is
calculated as:
∑ ∣ x−Mean ∣× f
Mean Deviation=
∑f
Where:
x is the midpoint of the class.
f is the frequency.
Calculation:
Class Interval Midpoint (x) Frequency (f) ∣x−72.91∣ ∣x−72.91∣ × f
50-54 52 1 20.91 20.91
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Class Interval Midpoint (x) Frequency (f) ∣x−72.91∣ ∣x−72.91∣ × f
55-59 57 2 15.91 31.82
60-64 62 6 10.91 65.46
65-69 67 7 5.91 41.37
70-74 72 9 0.91 8.19
75-79 77 15 4.09 61.35
80-84 82 7 9.09 63.63
85-89 87 6 14.09 84.54
90-94 92 4 19.09 76.36
95-99 97 4 24.09 96.36
∑ of ∣ x−72.91∣ × f =549.99
549.99
Mean Deviation= =8.59
64
Thus, the mean deviation is 8.59.
7. The Standard Deviation
The standard deviation measures the spread of the data from the mean. It is calculated as:
Standard Deviation=
√
∑ (x−Mean)2 × f
∑f
Calculation:
5
Class Midpoint Frequency 2 2
∑ ( x−Mean) ∑ ( x−Mean) × f
Interval (x) (f)
50-54 52 1 437.46 437.46
55-59 57 2 253.12 506.24
60-64 62 6 118.59 711.54
65-69 67 7 34.88 243.15
70-74 72 9 0.83 7.47
75-79 77 15 16.70 250.56
80-84 82 7 22.57 158.01
85-89 87 6 197.18 1183.08
90-94 92 4 404.63 1618.52
95-99 97 4 583.99 2335.96
Total : ∑ of (x−Mean)2 × f =8594.55
Standard Deviation=√ 8594.5564 ≈ 10.23
Thus, the standard deviation is 10.23
Cumulative Frequency Curve and Quartiles
Plot of Cumulative Frequency (Less than and Greater than)
Below is the cumulative frequency distribution plot, showing both "less than" and
"greater than" types, with quartiles (Q1, Q2, and Q3) highlighted.
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Q1 (1st Quartile): 62
Q2 (Median, 2nd Quartile): 73
Q3 (3rd Quartile): 80
Discussion of Results
Central Tendency
The graph shows how students' test scores are spread out. It has two curves: one that
indicates how many students scored below a certain score (the "Less Than" curve) and
one that shows how many scored above it (the "Greater Than" curve).
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Median Score (Q2): The green dashed line at 77 tells us that half of the students
scored below this number. So, if you were to line up all the students by their
scores, the one in the middle would have a score of 77.
Quartiles
Quartiles help us understand the scores by dividing them into four equal parts:
First Quartile (Q1): The red dashed line at 67 indicates that 25% of students
scored below this score. This means that one-quarter of the students performed at
or below a score of 67.
Third Quartile (Q3): The blue dashed line at 82 shows that 75% of students
scored below this score. This means only the top 25% of students scored above
82.
Dispersion
The distance between Q1 and Q3 (67 and 82) gives us an idea of how spread out the
students' scores are. Most students scored between these two numbers, which helps us see
where the majority of scores fall.
Skewness
The shape of the curves suggests that there are slightly more students with lower scores,
but there are also a few students who scored very high. The "Greater Than" curve drops
sharply between scores of 75 and 90, meaning many students scored close to 75. The
"Less Than" curve rises more gently, showing that most students' scores are clustered in a
narrower range.
Conclusion
Overall, the graph helps us visualize how students performed on the test. Most students
scored between 67 and 82, with the average student scoring around 77. The slight
skewness indicates that while a few students had very high scores, most students' scores
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were concentrated in the middle range. The lines marking Q1, Q2, and Q3 provide a clear
picture of how students are performing relative to each other, making it easy to see
different levels of performance in the class.
