From the course: Lean Six Sigma: Define and Measure Tools

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Descriptive statistics

Descriptive statistics

From the course: Lean Six Sigma: Define and Measure Tools

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Descriptive statistics

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- When I decide to train for a triathlon, I want to know my performance starting out to get a baseline so that I know how well I'm improving as my training progresses. When I swim, bike, or run, I want to know my average times, as well as my slowest and fastest times. These are statistics that describe and summarize my performance data. Similarly, in Lean Six Sigma projects, descriptive statistics are used to baseline and track performance. There are two types of descriptive statistics: measures of central tendency and measures of spread, or dispersion. Let's discuss measures of central tendency. These measures summarize whether values in a set of data are centered. Measures of central tendency include the mean, median, and mode. The mean is simply the average. For example, if there are seven delivery times in hours, 30, 20, 20, 25, 27, 28, and 31, then the mean is a sum of all these values divided by seven. Using this calculation, the mean is 22 hours. Mathematically, the mean is a…

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