1. The problem asks to identify a term that refers to a characteristic of the whole distribution. 2. In statistics, a **parameter** is a value that describes a characteristic of an entire population or distribution. 3. A **statistic** is a value calculated from a sample, not the whole population. 4. **Continuous** and **discrete** refer to types of data or variables, not characteristics of the whole distribution. 5. Therefore, the correct answer is **parameter** because it describes a characteristic of the entire distribution.