Which measure of central tendency is the most frequently occurring score in a data set?

The most frequently occurring score in a data set is referred to as the mode. This measure of central tendency identifies the value that appears with the highest frequency, making it particularly useful in various situations, especially with categorical data where other measures such as the mean and median may not provide an appropriate central value.

In contrast, the mean is the average of all scores, calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the total number of scores. Although the mean can be useful, it is influenced by extreme values (outliers) and may not accurately reflect the most common score in a dataset.

The median represents the middle score when all values are arranged in ascending or descending order. It is valuable for understanding the center of a data set, particularly when the distribution is skewed. However, similar to the mean, the median does not necessarily reflect the most common value in the dataset.

The range, on the other hand, measures the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a dataset, providing a sense of variability rather than central tendency. It does not summarize the data in terms of what score appears the most frequently.

Therefore, the mode clearly stands out as the correct answer when identifying the score that occurs most frequently in a data set.