Which statistic is most appropriate for nominal data to describe central tendency?

Which statistic is most appropriate for nominal data to describe central tendency?

• A. Mean
• B. Median
• C. Geometric mean
• D. Mode

Answer: (D)

Nominal data consist of categories without any inherent order or numeric value. The central tendency measure that makes the most sense here is the mode—the category that appears most frequently. This is because you can identify which category is most common, but you can’t meaningfully compute an average or order the categories numerically. The mean and median rely on numeric values and ranking, which nominal data don’t provide, and the geometric mean requires multiplicative numeric data as well. So the mode aptly describes the typical category. If two or more categories tie for the highest frequency, there can be multiple modes.

Nominal data consist of categories without any inherent order or numeric value. The central tendency measure that makes the most sense here is the mode—the category that appears most frequently. This is because you can identify which category is most common, but you can’t meaningfully compute an average or order the categories numerically. The mean and median rely on numeric values and ranking, which nominal data don’t provide, and the geometric mean requires multiplicative numeric data as well. So the mode aptly describes the typical category. If two or more categories tie for the highest frequency, there can be multiple modes.