MEASURES OF VARIABILITY

Measure of variability - is a summary statistic that represents the amount of dispersion in a

data set.
- it tells how far away the data points tend to fall from the center.
- It indicates the extent to which values in a distribution are spread
around the central tendency.

Measures of Absolute Variation (Ungrouped Data)

1. Range
2. Interquartile Range or IQR
3. Quartile Deviation or Semi-interquartile Range (QD) or (SIR)
4. Mean Absolute Deviation
5. Mean Squared Deviation or Variance
6. Standard Deviation

1. RANGE (Ungrouped Data) – is the difference between the highest and the lowest observed
values in a distribution.
- it is a very rough measure of spread.
- it provides useful but limited information, since it depends only
on the extreme values.

Formula: Range = highest value – lowest value

Example: Consider the following measurements, in liters for two samples of apple juice
in a tetra packed by companies A and B.
Sample A Sample B
0.97 1.06
1.00 1.01
0.94 0.88
1.03 0.91
1.11 1.14

Both samples have the same mean 1 liter. Company A packed apple juice with a
more uniform content than company B. We say that the variability or the dispersion of the
observations from the mean is less for sample A than for sample B. Therefore, in buying apple
juice, we would feel more confident that the tetra pack we select will be closer to the
advertised mean if we buy from company A.

Note : Smaller dispersion of data arising from the comparison often indicates more consistency
and more reliability.
Disadvantages of Range:
1. It makes use of very little information.
2. It is totally dependent on the two extreme values, so it is greatly affected by any changes in
these values.
3. It should be used with caution, particularly with data that contain a single extremely large
value as this value would have a considerable effect on the range.
4. It cannot identify the differences between two sets of data with the same extra values.

2. INTERQUARTILE RANGE
Interquartile Range – is also called the mid-spread.
- is the difference between the first quartile Q1 and the third quartile Q3.
- it tells how spread out the middle values are.
- it can also be used to tell when some of the other values are “to far”
from the central value.

Formula = Q3 – Q1

Q1 – is the median of the lower half of the data.

Q3 - is the median of the upper half of data.

Steps in finding IQR (Ungrouped Data):

1. Arrange the data from least to greatest.
2. Find the median.
3. Find the median of the lower half of the data (Q1).
4. Find the median of the upper half of the data (Q3).
5. Subtract Q3 – Q1.

3. QUARTILE DEVIATION OR SEMI-INTERQUARTILE RANGE

Quartile deviation or semi-interquartile range is the amount of dispersion present in the
middle 50 % of the values of a distribution. It tells something about
how data is dispersed around a central point (usually the mean). It is
half of the interquartile range.

Formula: = Q3 – Q1
2
Example :
The following are the records of the contributions ( in pesos ) of the
employees of AB Enterprises to the typhoon Ambo victims in Leyte province:

873 1,634 913 1708 976 1,755

1,051 1,812 1,184 1,893 1,214 1,364

Find the : a.) Range

b.) Interquartile Range ( IQR )
c.) Quartile Deviation (QD) or Semi-interquartile Range (SIR)

Solution :

873
913
976___Q1___
1,051
1,184
1,214__Q2___
1,364
1,634
1,708__Q3___
1,755
1,812
1,893__Q4____

Range = highest value – lowest value

= 1,893 – 873 = 1,020

Interquartile Range (IQR) = Q3 – Q1

= 1,708 – 976
= 732

Quartile Deviation (QD) or (SIR) = Q3 – Q1

2
= 1,708 – 976
2
= P366.00

Interpretation :
This means that 25 % of the employees contributed less than P976.00, 25 % of
them contributed between P976.00 and P1,214 and 25 % of them contributed between P1,214
and P1,708.00 and 25 % are more than P1,708.00.