Canadian Health Information Management Association Practice Exam

Which measure assesses the spread of data points in a dataset?

1. Mean

2. Mode

3. Standard deviation

4. Median

The correct answer is: Standard deviation

The correct answer is standard deviation, as it specifically quantifies the amount of variation or dispersion in a set of data points. When evaluating a dataset, the standard deviation measures how much individual data points deviate from the mean (average) of that dataset. A low standard deviation indicates that the data points tend to be close to the mean, while a high standard deviation suggests that the data points are spread out over a wider range of values. In contrast, the mean provides the average value of the dataset, the mode indicates the most frequently occurring value, and the median represents the middle value when the data is ordered. While all these measures provide important insights into the dataset, only standard deviation directly assesses the spread or variability of the data points, making it the most relevant measure in this context.