Which term describes the distance of a single score from the mean?

Which term describes the distance of a single score from the mean?

• A. Deviation
• B. Z-score
• C. Range
• D. Sum of Squares

Answer: (A)

The distance of a single score from the mean is called the deviation. It’s computed as the score minus the mean (x − x̄). The sign shows whether the score sits above or below the mean, and its magnitude (often considered via the absolute value) represents how far it is from the center. The other terms relate to this idea in different ways. A Z-score is a standardized deviation: (x − x̄) divided by the standard deviation, telling you how many standard deviations away the score is and allowing comparisons across distributions. The range is the overall spread from the smallest to the largest value, not the distance from the mean for a single score. The sum of squares is the sum of squared deviations for all scores, used to compute variance and standard deviation, rather than the distance of one score by itself.

The distance of a single score from the mean is called the deviation. It’s computed as the score minus the mean (x − x̄). The sign shows whether the score sits above or below the mean, and its magnitude (often considered via the absolute value) represents how far it is from the center.

The other terms relate to this idea in different ways. A Z-score is a standardized deviation: (x − x̄) divided by the standard deviation, telling you how many standard deviations away the score is and allowing comparisons across distributions. The range is the overall spread from the smallest to the largest value, not the distance from the mean for a single score. The sum of squares is the sum of squared deviations for all scores, used to compute variance and standard deviation, rather than the distance of one score by itself.