A medical researcher is studying the ages of patients in a clinical trial and has collected the following data: 25, 32, 41, 43, 47, 55, 57, 59, 63, 68.
What is the median age of the patients in this study?
The correct answer is:
D) 57
When the data is arranged in ascending order, it is the middle value. In this case, there are five values on each side, making 57 the median.
Answer choice A: 43, is incorrect. The median is the middle value when data is arranged in ascending or descending order. In this case, the median is not 43.
Answer choice B: 47, is incorrect. The median is not 47 as it is not the middle value when the data is sorted in ascending order.
Answer choice C: 55, is incorrect. The median is not 55, as it does not represent the middle value in the ordered data.
Answer choice E: 59, is incorrect. The median is not 59, as it is not the middle value when the data is sorted in ascending order.
Key Learning Point
The median is a measure of central tendency that represents the middle value of a dataset when the data is arranged in ascending or descending order. In this case, the median age is 57, as it is the middle value in the ordered list of ages. The median is a useful statistic, especially when dealing with skewed or non-normally distributed data, as it is not influenced by extreme values or outliers.
