2025-04-292025-04-290000http://192.9.200.215:4000/handle/123456789/537The chapter introduces the three key measures of central tendency: mean, median, and mode. It explains how each measure works and when it is best applied, based on data type and distribution. The importance of measurement levels—nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio—is also detailed. It concludes that understanding the context and shape of data is essential for correct interpretation.One of the principal functions of descriptive statistics is summarization of data. We often use a set of data to compute other numbers, called statistics, that convey the essential information in the original scores. One of the most elementary types of statistics indicates the location of the center of a score distribution. In many statistics texts, statistics that identify the center or middle of a set of scores are called measures of central tendency. In this chapter we'll define several measures of central tendency, examine their proper-ties and assumptions, and try to give you a sense of when each of them should be used. With some sets of data, various measures of central tendency will give totally different indications of the center of a score distribution. It is important to learn when each measure of central tendency is appropriate, so you won't be misled by an author who has used the wrong one.enCentral TendencyLevel of MeasurementRatio LevelOrdinal LevelMedianBook chapter