A neuropsychologist is researching the reaction times (in milliseconds) of participants completing a selective attention task. The researcher notices that while most participants respond within 300–400 ms300\text{--}400\text{ ms}300–400 ms, two participants had reaction times of over 2000 ms due to temporary distractions. Why might the researcher choose to report the median reaction time rather than the mean reaction time in this scenario?
The median is the only measure of central tendency that is mathematically suitable for interval data such as reaction times.
The mean cannot be calculated if the dataset contains an even number of scores.
The mean is easily distorted by the two extremely high reaction times, making it unrepresentative of the overall sample.
The mean does not use the precise numerical values of all the participant scores in its calculation.
513 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Data recording, analysis and presentation. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.