MEASURES OF POSITIONS

The measures of position deal with the measurement of the relative position of
an observation with respect to a given distribution. The major operation involved is
taking the percentage of the distribution. From the percentage distribution, the
percentile rank is taken, as well as the measures of dispersion: quartiles and deciles.

The technique that will be used to compute for these measures will require the
grouping of data into class intervals, and then using a formula involving proportions.

PERCENTILES
The percentile rank n tells how many percent of the cases got
below the rank position.

The percentile point Pn is the score/value/observation that

corresponds to the given percentile rank..

Recall that the middle score is a measure of central tendency which is called the
median. Therefore the median is also the 50 th percentile. The 50th percentile rank means
that 50% of the group are below it and 50% are above it, dividing the group into two
equal parts.

Determination of Percentiles for Grouped Data

If the given information is a grouped data then observations are given in intervals
with corresponding frequencies.

To calculate for the ith percentile point Pi

w(pN – F)
Pi = L + --------------------
f
where
Pi = score corresponding to the ith percentile
L = lower limit of the percentile class interval
f = frequency of the percentile class interval
F = cumulative frequency of the interval before the
percentile class interval
w = class width
 p = rank in decimals or fraction
N = total frequency

In solving for the percentile point, it is convenient to include both the cumulative
frequency and the cumulative percentage as we go up the table.

The cumulative frequency is the sum of the frequencies of

subsequent intervals.

The cumulative percentage is the corresponding percentage for

each cumulative frequency.

QUARTILES

A set may be divided into four parts. Each part is called a quartile.

The upper quartile Q1 is the value of the variable below which 75%
of the cases lie. The upper quartile is also referred to as the third quartile.

The upper quartile corresponds to the 75 th percentile point because it surpasses

75% of the cases. Hence Q3 = P75.

The lower quartile Q1 is the value of the variable below which 25%
of the cases lie.

The lower quartile corresponds to the first quartile. It is also the 25 th percentile
point or Q1 = P25.

Highest score

Q3 = P75. = upper quartile

Q2 = P50. = median

Q1 = P25 = lower quartile

Lowest score

A measure of dispersion that may be useful is the quartile deviation (QD).

The quartile deviation (QD) is one half the difference between the
upper quartile and the lower quartile. In symbols,
 Q3 - Q1
QD = ---------------
2

A large quartile deviation indicates a widely dispersed distribution. A small value

indicates a narrow spread in a distribution.

DECILES

When the distribution is divided into 10 equal parts, each part is called a decile.

A decile point D, is a value of the variable below which a certain

percentage of the cases fall, the percentage being taken in units of 10.

For example, the 4th decile point is the score which surpasses 40% of the
individuals in the distribution. This means D4 = P40.

Highest D9 D8 D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 Lowest
Score Score

Md = P50 = Q2 = D5