Question

select the correct answer.
which of the following is true about standard deviation?
a. standard deviation is the easiest central tendency to calculate.
b. the lower the standard deviation, the more reliable the data.
c. standard deviation is a statistical value that gives an idea of variation among scores in a set.
d. standard deviation is the most popular measure of central tendency.
e. standard deviation is the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a data set.

Explanation:

• Option A: Standard deviation is a measure of dispersion, not central tendency, so this is false.
• Option B: A low standard deviation means data is clustered closely around the mean, but "reliability" depends on the context of the data, not just deviation, so this is not universally true.
• Option C: Standard deviation quantifies the amount of variation or spread of values in a dataset, which matches this description.
• Option D: Standard deviation is not a measure of central tendency (central tendency includes mean, median, mode), so this is false.
• Option E: The difference between the highest and lowest scores is the range, not standard deviation, so this is false.

Answer:

C. Standard deviation is a statistical value that gives an idea of variation among scores in a set.