Notes on the Merits and Demerits of Mode

Merits of Mode:

1) It possesses the merit of simplicity. In a discrete series it can be located even by inspection. Hence like median it has an advantage over arithmetic average.

2) It is commonly understood. It is an average which people use in their day to day expressions. The average size of ready-made garments, the typical size of land holding are all examples of the common use of mode .

3) Mode is a value which exists in the series whereas arithmetic average may be a figure which may not be found in the series. It is the most common item of a series and is not an isolated example like the median.

4) It is not affected by the value of extreme items if the distribution follows the natural law relating to extremes. Usually, there is little concentration of items around extreme values.

5) It can be correctly calculated in open-end classes.

6) In a continuous series, mode can, be calculated even if all the item values are not given. Only the modal class and the frequencies of its adjoining classes are required to compute mode.

Demerits:

1) Mode is ill-defined in case of bi-modal, multi-modal series.

2) It is not a representative average as it is not based on all the items of the distributions, If in a series of 1000 items 20 have a particular value and other values have frequency less than 20, mode becomes 20. But certainly 20 is not the typical or representative average.

3) It is not capable of further algebraic treatment.

4) Mode is affected to a great extent by the fluctuations of sampling.