A data scientist is summarising the annual salaries in a dataset that contains a small number of extremely high earner outliers. Which measure of central tendency gives the most representative picture of the typical employee salary?
- AThe median, because it is resistant to extreme values at the tail of the distribution Correct
- BThe arithmetic mean, because it incorporates every value in the dataset
- CThe mode, because the most frequently occurring salary describes what is normal
- DThe variance, because it quantifies how spread out the salary values are
Why A is correct: The median splits the ordered distribution at the midpoint and is unaffected by how extreme the highest values are, so it reflects where most salaries actually fall.
Why B is wrong: The mean is tempting because it uses all data points, but outliers pull it far above most employees' salaries, making it unrepresentative of the typical worker.
Why C is wrong: The mode identifies the most common single value, but salary data is often spread across many distinct figures, making the mode a poor summary of the centre.
Why D is wrong: Variance measures dispersion, not central tendency, so it describes spread rather than where a typical salary sits in the distribution.