Which type of statistics describes characteristics of groups and includes measures of central tendency and measures of variation?

• A. Predictive statistics
• B. Inferential statistics
• C. Descriptive statistics
• D. Diagnostic statistics

Answer: (C)

Describing a group by its typical value and how spread out the values are is what descriptive statistics do. They summarize data from a specific set, using measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) to show what is typical, and measures of variation (range, variance, standard deviation) to show how much the values differ. This approach focuses on the data at hand and characterizes its patterns without making predictions or generalizing to a larger population.

Predictive statistics aim to forecast future outcomes using models. Inferential statistics draw conclusions about a population from a sample. Diagnostic statistics seek to identify causes or problems based on data. The described focus on summarizing the group's characteristics with central tendency and variation aligns with descriptive statistics.