Final answer:
The correct answer to the presented question asking for a measure of a quality characteristic which is an attribute is 'Proportion'. Proportion is used to measure qualitative attributes such as defect rates. The mean amount spent on produce is a statistic, not a population nor a parameter.
Step-by-step explanation:
The given question asks for a measure of a quality characteristic which is an attribute. Between standard deviation, proportion, mean, variance, and range, the correct answer is Proportion, which measures a quality characteristic that is an attribute of a sample, such as the fraction of defective items in a batch.
In the context provided, within the study that found the mean amount spent on produce per visit by customers in the sample is $12.84, this value represents a statistic, since it's calculated from a sample of the population, and not the whole population itself.
Regarding the powder and liquid diets example, the interest in whether the liquid diet yields a higher mean weight loss than the powder diet suggests performing a test of independent group means, where the population standard deviations are known. Moreover, the scenario about males and females passing their driver's test first attempt describes a case suitable to test two proportions.