What is 'central tendency' in statistics?

Central tendency refers to statistical measures that provide a summary of a dataset by identifying the center point or typical value within that dataset. This concept is essential as it helps to understand the data by condensing a large number of values into a single representative figure. Common measures of central tendency include the mean, median, and mode, all of which serve to encapsulate the overall characteristics of the data.

While other options address different aspects of data analysis—such as variability, distance between scores, and specific types of averages—they do not capture the essence of what central tendency represents. The focus of central tendency is specifically on summarizing data rather than detailing its variability or individual score distances. Therefore, the correct understanding lies in recognizing that central tendency is fundamentally about summarizing datasets rather than providing measures that explore data distribution or specific computations of average scores.