Deviation is defined as the distance between a score and the mean.

Deviation is defined as the distance between a score and the mean.

• A. The distance between the maximum and minimum scores
• B. The sum of squared deviations from the mean
• C. The distance separating the score from the Mean
• D. The average of all scores minus the mean

Answer: (C)

Deviation captures how far a single score sits from the center of the distribution, the mean. It is found by subtracting the mean from the score, so a score above the mean yields a positive deviation and a score below yields a negative one. When we talk about the distance, we usually refer to the absolute value of that difference, which is the magnitude of how far the score is from the mean. This aligns with the option describing the distance separating the score from the mean, which is exactly what deviation measures for a single observation. The other descriptions refer to different ideas: the range is the spread between the highest and lowest values; the sum of squared deviations combines all scores to form variance; and subtracting the mean from the overall average doesn’t describe a single-score difference and isn’t meaningful as a deviation for an individual score.

Deviation captures how far a single score sits from the center of the distribution, the mean. It is found by subtracting the mean from the score, so a score above the mean yields a positive deviation and a score below yields a negative one. When we talk about the distance, we usually refer to the absolute value of that difference, which is the magnitude of how far the score is from the mean.

This aligns with the option describing the distance separating the score from the mean, which is exactly what deviation measures for a single observation. The other descriptions refer to different ideas: the range is the spread between the highest and lowest values; the sum of squared deviations combines all scores to form variance; and subtracting the mean from the overall average doesn’t describe a single-score difference and isn’t meaningful as a deviation for an individual score.