Which is the best measure of central tendency, the mean the medium or the mode

1 answer

The best measure of central tendency depends on the nature of the dataset and the research question being asked.

If the dataset is normally distributed, meaning it follows a bell curve, the mean is the most representative measure of central tendency. However, if the dataset contains extreme values or outliers, the median may be a better representation of the center.

The mode is most useful when you want to describe the most common value or category in a dataset. It may be more useful in categorical or nominal data, such as frequency of different colors of cars, for example.

Therefore, the best measure of central tendency depends on the type of data and the research question being investigated.