What term describes a bell-shaped curve used in the interpretation of scores?

The term that describes a bell-shaped curve used in the interpretation of scores is the normal distribution. This concept is fundamental in statistics and educational psychology as it represents how scores are typically distributed in a population. In a normal distribution, most of the data points cluster around the mean, with fewer points occurring as you move away from the mean in either direction.

The bell-shaped curve indicates that approximately 68% of the scores fall within one standard deviation of the mean, about 95% fall within two standard deviations, and nearly all (99.7%) fall within three standard deviations. This predictable pattern allows educators and researchers to make inferences about individual scores in relation to the group.

The other terms mentioned serve different purposes in statistics. The standard normal curve refers to a specific type of normal distribution that has a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one. Skewed distribution describes a situation where data points are not symmetrically distributed, meaning there are more scores on one side of the desired central value than the other. Statistical variation refers to the degree of variability within a dataset, which does not specifically relate to the visual representation of a bell-shaped curve.