Assessing post-graduate Students’ Ability to Match Levels of Measurement with the Appropriate Measures of Central Tendency

Abstract

This study aimed to address the issue of students' incorrect use of measures of central tendency in relation to the measurement scale involved. The participants in the study were ninety-seven post-graduate students (both doctoral and masters) from the Faculty of Education at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. Among the participants, there were seventy-three students, with 31 doctoral students and 42 masters students included in the sample. The research adopted a descriptive survey design and was guided by three research questions and three hypotheses. Data collection was conducted using a 9-item questionnaire, and the hypotheses were tested using the independent samples t-test. The mean was utilized to address the research questions. To evaluate the performance of each research participant on each measurement scale, a benchmark of 6 points (out of 12 points) was established. The findings indicated that both groups of students scored below the benchmark of six points on each measurement scale, indicating a lack of ability to properly match scales of measurement with the appropriate measure of central tendency. However, doctoral students’ demonstrated slightly better performance compared to their masters counterparts. Among the three null hypotheses tested, only hypothesis two, which focused on the ability of students to match the ordinal scale of measurement with the appropriate measure of central tendency, yielded significant results in favor of the doctoral students. Overall, the study concluded that there is an inadequate understanding among students regarding the application of the mean, median, and mode in accordance with the required level of measurement. Therefore, it is crucial to place greater emphasis on strengthening the fundamentals in this area of study.