What does the median represent in a dataset?

The median is defined as the middle score in a dataset when the values are arranged in ascending or descending order. This means that if the dataset is ordered, the median is the point that divides the dataset into two equal halves: half of the values are below it and half are above it. For an odd number of observations, the median is simply the middle value. In the case of an even number of observations, the median is calculated by taking the average of the two middle values. This characteristic of the median makes it particularly useful for understanding the central tendency of data, especially when the dataset contains outliers or is skewed, as the median is not affected by extreme values the way the mean is.

In contrast, the other choices refer to different statistical concepts. The average relates to the mean, which is calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the count of those values. The mode refers to the most frequently occurring score within the dataset. The range represents the difference between the highest and lowest scores in the dataset.