Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) Practice Exam

Which measure is considered a central tendency in descriptive statistics?

1. Mode

2. Standard deviation

3. Range

4. Standard error of the mean

The correct answer is: Mode

The mode is defined as the value that appears most frequently in a data set, which makes it a measure of central tendency. In descriptive statistics, measures of central tendency provide summaries that represent the typical or average conditions of a data set. This allows for a quick understanding of where most data points lie. While the standard deviation measures the dispersion or variability of data points around the mean, the range provides the difference between the highest and lowest values in a data set, and the standard error of the mean indicates how far the sample mean is likely to be from the population mean. These measures focus on variability and distribution rather than central tendency. Thus, the mode specifically captures a central point in the data, making it the appropriate choice for this question.