A measure of central tendency is a value that is typical of a data set. Any measure of central tendency is considered to be representative of a whole data set or distribution; so by itself, it provides a description or summary of the data set as a whole. A conceptual understanding of measures of central tendency is basic to understand many aspects of educational measurement and thus essential for inclusion in this resource book. This entry defines and describes the most commonly used measures of central tendency and presents some advantages and disadvantages of using each one. The mean, median, and mode are the most commonly used measures of central tendency. In addition, the relationship between specific measures of central tendency and the effect of ...