Which measure of central tendency is defined as the midpoint of observations ranked in order of value?

The measure of central tendency referred to as the midpoint of observations ranked in order of value is the median. To determine the median, one must first arrange all observations from the lowest to the highest value. If there is an odd number of observations, the median is the middle value. If there is an even number of observations, the median is calculated by averaging the two middle values.

This concept is crucial as the median represents a value that divides the dataset into two equal halves, making it particularly useful in understanding data distributions, especially when they are skewed. The median is less affected by extreme values (outliers) than the mean, providing a better measure of central tendency in such cases.

In contrast, the mean calculates the average of all values, which can be significantly influenced by very high or very low values in the dataset. The mode identifies the most frequently occurring value in the dataset, while the range measures the difference between the highest and lowest values and does not provide a sense of central tendency at all. Therefore, recognizing that the median accurately represents the midpoint of ordered observations solidifies its definition within statistics.