Suppose you are looking for a job. You interview with a company that has 10 general employees each make $100 per day, 7 assistants each make $400 per day, 3 managers each make $900 per day, and the owner who makes $1900 per day. The interviewer tells you that the average salary and median is $400 per day. This Company is offering you a job at $110 per day.
From what you have learned so far in calculating central tendency, which method would you use to make your decision and why?
The distribution would be positively skewed, so it would not be true that "the average salary and median is $400 per day." I am assuming that the mean is your "average salary."
For a skewed distribution, the median is the best (most central) indicator of central tendency.
However, I don't have any idea of your qualifications for the various positions to lead to your decision.
To make your decision, you can utilize the concepts of average salary (mean) and median salary. The interviewer mentioned that the average and median salary at the company is $400 per day.
To calculate the average salary, you can add up all the salaries in the company and divide it by the total number of employees:
Total salary = (10 employees * $100) + (7 assistants * $400) + (3 managers * $900) + (1 owner * $1900)
Total salary = $1000 + $2800 + $2700 + $1900
Total salary = $8400
Average salary = Total salary / Number of employees = $8400 / 21 employees = $400 per day
The median salary is the middle value when all salaries are arranged in ascending order. In this case, since there are an odd number of employees (21), the median is the salary of the 11th employee when arranged from the lowest to the highest.
Now, you have an offer of $110 per day. To determine if this offer is reasonable compared to the average and median salaries, you can compare it to those values.
Considering the average salary of $400 per day, the offer of $110 per day is relatively lower. However, the average salary could be influenced by the higher salaries of the managers and the owner.
Considering the median salary, which is the middle value of all salaries, it is not known specifically. Without knowing the distribution pattern of salaries, it is not possible to determine if $110 per day is higher or lower than the median.
Therefore, in this case, it would be more appropriate to consider the average (mean) salary of $400 per day as a reference point. Since the offer is significantly lower than the average salary, you may want to carefully consider if this job offer is in line with your salary expectations.