When do you use Mode, Mean and Median

 You should use the mode if the data is qualitative (colour etc.) or if quantitative (numbers) with a clearly defined mode (or bi-modal). It is not much use if the distribution is fairly even. Median You should use this for quantitative data (numbers), when the data is skewed, i.e. when the median, mean and mode are probably not equal, and when there might be extreme values (outliers). Mean This is for quantitative data (numbers), and uses all pieces of data. It gives a true measure, and should only be used if the data is fairly symmetrical (not skewed), i.e. the mean could not be affected by extreme values (outliers).