you can get rough approximations by Cut-and-pasting then running the syntax at the end of this message. Does this do what you want? If not please restate your question in more detail.

the median will be between the 20th and 21 first person, i.e., between the second and third person in the 24 to 26 age group.

as you google, the term for this kind of data is "grouped data" referring that the original values are combined into groups. watch out for unequal interval group sizes and censored groups at either tail of the distribution.

Hope this helps.

Art Art@DrKendall.org Social Research Consultants University Park, MD USA (301) 864-5570 .

data list list/ name (a5) mid freq exten. begin data 18-20 19 12 228 21-23 22 7 154 24-26 25 8 200 27-29 28 9 252 30-32 31 3 93 33-35 34 1 34 end data. list. weight by freq. frequencies vars= mid /statistics=all/hbar.

Valdiserri, Colin wrote: > Zachary, > > Actually there are statistical formulas to obtain such results from categorical data. One I am familiar with is the following with sample data. But I do know there are others out there which tackle the issue where the category anchors are "less than ..." and "greater than..." That is the one I am trying to find. > > Solution for Mean > > X MP f MP* f > 18-20 19 12 228 > 21-23 22 7 154 > 24-26 25 8 200 > 27-29 28 9 252 > 30-32 31 3 93 > 33-35 34 1 34 > N=40 ? MPf=961 > > X = ?Xf = 24.05 > N > > Colin M. Valdiserri > Associate Consumer Scientist > The Calphalon Group > (419) 662-2378 - Office > (419) 661-0223 - Fax > Colin.Valdiserri@calphalon.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Feinstein, Zachary [mailto:ZFeinstein@HarrisInteractive.com] > Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 10:48 AM > To: Valdiserri, Colin; SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU > Subject: RE: Measures of Central Tendency from Categorical data > > > You cannot get a mean or median from categorical data. [I guess you could, > but it would be meaningless.] Means and medians are for data that are > quantitative or have some kind of numerical scale. The best measure of > central tendency for categorical data is a mode- the most often occurring > response. There are plenty of advanced statistical techniques that work > with categorical data where you would obtain the mean or median of some > other measures associated with it, but that's a whole other ballgame. > > Zachary > > -----Original Message----- > From: Valdiserri, Colin [mailto:Colin.Valdiserri@calphalon.com] > Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 9:11 AM > To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU > Subject: Measures of Central Tendency from Categorical data > > > Hello All, > > Does anyone have a formula to obtain a mean and median from categorical > data, or can you refer me to literature that explains this probelm. > > Colin M. Valdiserri > Associate Consumer Scientist > The Calphalon Group > (419) 662-2378 - Office > (419) 661-0223 - Fax > Colin.Valdiserri@calphalon.com > > > > > THIS MESSAGE MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS CONFIDENTIAL AND/OR PROTECTED > BY LAW. IF THE READER OF THIS MESSAGE IS NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE > HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION, COPYING OR > COMMUNICATION OF THIS MESSAGE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED > THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR, PLEASE CONTACT THE SENDER IMMEDIATELY AND > DELETE THE MESSAGE. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALTHOUGH WE WILL TAKE ALL > COMMERCIALLY REASONABLE EFFORTS TO PREVENT VIRUSES FROM BEING TRANSMITTED > FROM OUR SYSTEMS, IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE RECIPIENT TO CHECK FOR AND > PREVENT ADVERSE ACTION BY VIRUSES ON ITS OWN SYSTEMS . > > > > > THIS MESSAGE MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS CONFIDENTIAL AND/OR PROTECTED BY LAW. IF THE READER OF THIS MESSAGE IS NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION, COPYING OR COMMUNICATION OF THIS MESSAGE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR, PLEASE CONTACT THE SENDER IMMEDIATELY AND DELETE THE MESSAGE. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALTHOUGH WE WILL TAKE ALL COMMERCIALLY REASONABLE EFFORTS > TO PREVENT VIRUSES FROM BEING TRANSMITTED FROM OUR > SYSTEMS, IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE RECIPIENT TO CHECK FOR AND PREVENT ADVERSE ACTION BY VIRUSES ON ITS OWN SYSTEMS . >