What does an increase in the mean, but the median is the same signify?I have been collecting some data from a project (check if something is affected by the environment it is in) using some sensors. I collected some data before making a change in the environment and then after. My hypothesis is that it should be affected by the environment (the number must decrease).To test this, I did some calculations (in Excel) and noticed that there is a small increase in the mean, but the median remains the same. I don't know how to interpret this (I only have some basic knowledge about statistics). Can I simply assume that there was indeed an increase (and that my hypothesis is false), or is there something more to it? After searching online, I found something about called "hypothesis testing of means" that seems to be applicable here, but I have to idea how to do this (tried watching videos about it, but didn't understand how to use it in my case). I calculated the variance and the standard deviation if it helps. Thanks.Here is the result of my data:Sample size: 60BEFORE:mean: 3.35median: 3.5variance: 0.25standard dev.: 0.50AFTER:mean: 3.51median: 3.5variance: 0.20standard dev.: 0.45

Question

What does an increase in the mean, but the median is the same signify?I have been collecting some data from a project (check if something is affected by the environment it is in) using some sensors. I collected some data before making a change in the environment and then after. My hypothesis is that it should be affected by the environment (the number must decrease).To test this, I did some calculations (in Excel) and noticed that there is a small increase in the mean, but the median remains the same. I don&#039;t know how to interpret this (I only have some basic knowledge about statistics). Can I simply assume that there was indeed an increase (and that my hypothesis is false), or is there something more to it? After searching online, I found something about called &quot;hypothesis testing of means&quot; that seems to be applicable here, but I have to idea how to do this (tried watching videos about it, but didn&#039;t understand how to use it in my case). I calculated the variance and the standard deviation if it helps. Thanks.Here is the result of my data:Sample size: 60BEFORE:mean: 3.35median: 3.5variance: 0.25standard dev.: 0.50AFTER:mean: 3.51median: 3.5variance: 0.20standard dev.: 0.45

ejigaboo8y · Accepted Answer

A single new large data point will increase the mean but leave the median the same. Think about what happens to the salary distribution in a company if the CEO gets a giant raise.To know the &quot;meaning&quot; of your observation we need a lot more context. An Excel plot of the data should help you.That said, this is a better question for stats.stackexchange.com.

What does an increase in the mean, but the median is the same signify? I have been collecting some

Answered question

Answer & Explanation

New Questions in Pre-Algebra