A researcher is told that the average age of respondents in a survey is 49 years. She is interested in finding out if most respondents are close to 49 years old. The measure that would most accurately answer this question is:
A) mean.
B) median.
C) mode.
D) range.
E) standard deviation.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The standard deviation is the most appropriate measure to determine how spread out the ages of the respondents are from the average (mean) age of 49 years. It quantifies the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. A low standard deviation would indicate that the ages of the respondents are close to the mean age, while a high standard deviation would indicate that the ages are spread out over a wider range.

A Researcher Is Told That the Average Age of Respondents