In descriptive statistics, is the standard deviation a measure of center or a measure of variation?

• A. A measure of association between two variables
• B. A measure of center
• C. A measure of skewness
• D. A measure of variation

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand the definitions of key terms in descriptive statistics: 'measure of center' refers to statistics that describe the central point of a data set, such as the mean or median.
2. 'Measure of variation' refers to statistics that describe the spread or dispersion of data points around the center, such as range, variance, and standard deviation.
3. Recall that the standard deviation quantifies how much the data values deviate from the mean on average, indicating the amount of variability or spread in the data.
4. Recognize that 'measure of association' involves relationships between two variables, like correlation, which is different from standard deviation.
5. Conclude that since standard deviation describes the spread of data rather than its central value or association, it is classified as a measure of variation.