Which of the following is a measure of dispersion?

Which of the following is a measure of dispersion?

• A. Center
• B. Mode
• C. Median
• D. Range

Answer: (D)

Dispersion describes how spread out the data are around a central value. The range stands out as a dispersion measure because it is the difference between the largest and smallest values, directly reflecting the overall spread of the data. The other options identify where values tend to cluster (central tendency), not how far apart they are. While simple and easy to compute, the range can be affected by outliers, and other, more informative dispersion measures include standard deviation and interquartile range.

Dispersion describes how spread out the data are around a central value. The range stands out as a dispersion measure because it is the difference between the largest and smallest values, directly reflecting the overall spread of the data. The other options identify where values tend to cluster (central tendency), not how far apart they are. While simple and easy to compute, the range can be affected by outliers, and other, more informative dispersion measures include standard deviation and interquartile range.