In statistical analysis, what does "mean" represent?

In statistical analysis, "mean" specifically refers to the average value calculated from observations. To determine the mean, you sum all the values in a dataset and then divide that total by the number of observations. This measure provides a central tendency that helps summarize the data, giving insight into its overall pattern.

The mean is a fundamental concept in statistics, often used as a point of reference when analyzing data distributions, evaluating trends, or comparing groups. It is crucial in various statistical analyses and can significantly affect conclusions drawn from data, especially when considering its sensitivity to extreme scores or outliers. The other options describe different statistical terms or concepts: the median is the middle value, the mode is the most frequently occurring value, and the range indicates the spread between the maximum and minimum values in a dataset.