measure of central tendency, mean

(NL: centrummaat)

A measure of central tendency (or mean) for a variable is a value that is considered "typical" for that group. There are several ways to calculate a measure of central tendency. Only a few are listed below.

Depending on the level of measurement, specific measures are ideally suited:

• Qualitative variables: mode
• Quantitative variables: arithmetic mean, median

In addition to a measure of center, one typically also uses a measure of dispersion to express the variability of observations for that variable.