$Which\; characteristic\; of\; data\; is\; a\; measure\; of\; the\; amount\; that\; the\; data\; values\; vary?$

• A. $Mode$
• B. $Mean$
• C. $Median$
• D. $Standard\; deviation$

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand that the question asks for a characteristic of data that measures how much the data values vary or spread out.
2. Recall the definitions of the given options: Mode is the most frequent value, Mean is the average, and Median is the middle value when data is ordered.
3. Recognize that these three (Mode, Mean, Median) describe central tendency, which tells us about the center of the data, not the spread.
4. Identify that the measure of variability or spread in data is called the Standard Deviation, which quantifies how much the data values deviate from the mean on average.
5. Therefore, the characteristic that measures the amount of variation in data values is the Standard Deviation.