What is the primary effect of using the ‘median’ strategy in SimpleImputer compared to the ‘mean’ strategy?

Question

Data Science — Medium

What is the primary effect of using the ‘median’ strategy in SimpleImputer compared to the ‘mean’ strategy?

Accepted Answer

The median is a robust statistic, meaning it is less influenced by extreme values (outliers) than the mean. When a dataset contains outliers, the mean is pulled toward the tail, whereas the median remains centered, making it a more reliable measure of central tendency for imputation in skewed data.