Comparing Averages

littlemissme

Hi guys,


I need some help please on the best way to compare averages.


e.g.

Department Total Tests Passes Average Pass rate
A 15 10 66%
B 2 2 100%
C 5 4 80%

As you can see in the above example, Dept B has 100% pass rate but there were only 2 tests booked whereas Dept A has more passes.

Thanks!!

CeeJaySix

What are you trying to show with the comparison? I think we need a bit more detail to give you a meaningful answer!

coojee

You could work out the percentage passes per department, so Dept A has 62.5% of all passes, Dept B has 12.5% and Dept C has 25%. But as CeeJay says it depends what you're trying to achieve. This reminds me of the saying "There are lies, damn lies and then there's statistics" which means that you can make statistics show anything you want them to show if you think creatively enough about it

littlemissme

Sorry if I haven't explained myself clearly, I was in a hurry. What I'm trying to achieve is how to know who has the best pass rate across different departments if they have different total values. e.g. In a maths class 10 students took the test and 9 of them passed then that's 90%, in a history class 1 student took the test and passed - 100%. If I were to give an award to the one with the highest pass rate then the history class has 100% but it's not fair to compare a figure of only 1 test to 10 etc. Thank you