Question

Number of hours in one week students on a girls’ high school field hockey team spent exercising:

14, 14, 14, 14, 15, 15, 15, 16, 16, 16, 16, 16, 17, 17, 17, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18

Which measure of variability—IQR or MAD— best describes the spread of the dataset?

(1 point)
Responses

IQR; the data distribution is symmetrical
IQR; the data distribution is symmetrical

IQR; the data distribution is skewed
IQR; the data distribution is skewed

MAD; the data distribution is symmetrical
MAD; the data distribution is symmetrical

MAD; the data distribution is skewed

Answer 1

IQR; the data distribution is skewed.

Reason: the mean (16.1) is slightly greater than the median (16), so the data are slightly right-skewed. The IQR (a median-based, resistant measure) better describes spread for skewed data than the mean absolute deviation.