Which measures are commonly used to summarize a distribution of scores?

The commonly used measures to summarize a distribution of scores are the mean, median, and mode.

The mean is the average of all scores and provides a measure of central tendency that takes into account every value in the dataset. The median is the middle score in a ranked list and is particularly useful for understanding the distribution of scores, especially when the data includes outliers. The mode is the most frequently occurring score in the distribution, which helps identify the most typical value in the data.

Together, these three measures provide a comprehensive view of the central tendencies within the data. They reflect different aspects of the distribution, making them useful for summarizing and interpreting the overall characteristics of a dataset. This trio of measures is foundational in statistics and helps researchers and practitioners to understand the distribution better.

Other options incorporate either the range, variance, or interquartile range, which, while useful in their respective contexts, are measures of variability rather than central tendency and thus do not serve to summarize scores in the same way.