Which statistic measures dispersion of a dataset around its mean?

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Multiple Choice

Which statistic measures dispersion of a dataset around its mean?

Dispersion around the mean is best captured by the standard deviation. It measures, on average, how far each data point sits from the mean, by squaring those deviations, averaging them, and taking the square root. This gives a single value in the same units as the data that reflects typical spread; a smaller standard deviation means values cluster near the mean, while a larger one indicates more spread. The other statistics describe central tendency rather than spread around the mean. The median identifies the middle value, and the mode is the most frequent value. The range just looks at the difference between the highest and lowest values and doesn’t describe how data are distributed around the mean, and it can be heavily influenced by outliers.

Dispersion around the mean is best captured by the standard deviation. It measures, on average, how far each data point sits from the mean, by squaring those deviations, averaging them, and taking the square root. This gives a single value in the same units as the data that reflects typical spread; a smaller standard deviation means values cluster near the mean, while a larger one indicates more spread.

The other statistics describe central tendency rather than spread around the mean. The median identifies the middle value, and the mode is the most frequent value. The range just looks at the difference between the highest and lowest values and doesn’t describe how data are distributed around the mean, and it can be heavily influenced by outliers.

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