Tobacco-cessation initiative wants most common number of packs smoked per week as initial reduction goal. What statistic?

The interquartile range (IQR) measures the spread of the middle 50% of data points by subtracting the first quartile from the third quartile. While it provides insights into data variability, it does not identify the most frequent value, making it unsuitable for establishing a common smoking behavior.

Standard deviation quantifies the amount of variation or dispersion in a set of values. Although it can indicate how much packs smoked per week deviate from the average, it does not highlight the most common occurrence, which is critical for a reduction goal.

The mean calculates the average number of packs smoked per week by summing all values and dividing by the total number of observations. While useful for understanding overall consumption, it does not reflect the most frequently smoked number of packs, which is essential for targeting the most prevalent behaviors.