When most volleyball team vertical jump scores are similar but three scores are much higher, which measure of central tendency is most appropriate?

When most volleyball team vertical jump scores are similar but three scores are much higher, which measure of central tendency is most appropriate?

• A. mean
• B. median
• C. mode
• D. variance

Answer: (B)

When scores are clustered together but a few are much higher, the middle value of the ordered data best represents what a typical player achieves. This middle value, the median, isn’t pulled toward those three outliers, so it stays representative of the usual jump. The mean would be dragged upward by the high scores, giving a number that doesn’t reflect most players’ performance. The mode simply shows the most common score and may not capture where the data center lies in this skewed situation, and variance isn’t a measure of central tendency at all—it measures how spread out the scores are.

When scores are clustered together but a few are much higher, the middle value of the ordered data best represents what a typical player achieves. This middle value, the median, isn’t pulled toward those three outliers, so it stays representative of the usual jump. The mean would be dragged upward by the high scores, giving a number that doesn’t reflect most players’ performance. The mode simply shows the most common score and may not capture where the data center lies in this skewed situation, and variance isn’t a measure of central tendency at all—it measures how spread out the scores are.