The most general and least precise measure of central tendency is the mode. It is the value that occurs most frequently.

To compute the mode, follow these steps.

  • List all the values in a distribution, but list each only once.
  • Tally the number of times that each value occurs.
  • The value that occurs most often is the mode.

For example, if one were to examine different styles of learning and categorize learners into Types 1, 2, and 3, the results might be as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Sample Data: Learning Style Frequency
Learning StyleNumber or Frequency
Type 128
Type 253
Type 3110

The mode is the value that occurs most frequently, which in the above example is a Type 3 learning style.

The most commonly made mistake when computing the mode is ...

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