In the context of Advanced Placement Psychology, this term denotes how often a score or observation occurs within a dataset. It represents a count of instances for each distinct value. For example, if a researcher administers a personality test and finds that 15 participants score a 75, the instance of the number 75 possesses a value of 15.
Understanding this concept is crucial for interpreting distributions and calculating descriptive statistics. It forms the basis for constructing histograms, frequency polygons, and other visual representations of data. Historically, its accurate assessment has allowed psychologists to identify trends, make comparisons between groups, and draw meaningful conclusions from collected information.