Measure

of
Variability
Prepared by Meynard Soriano, MIT
 Definition:

The degree of clustering about a central point

Central point or measure of central tendency is a

description of a data set. It tells you where scores or
data are centrally located. This tends to be
meaningless if we do not know the degree of spread or
variability
 The RANGE

The simplest measure of spread

It is unstable because its value may fluctuate with just

a change of a single score.

Range = highest limit - lowest limit (grouped)

Range = highest value - lowest value (ungrouped)

 Semi-interquartile Range
Sometimes called as the quartile deviation

The amount of spread between Q1 or Q3 and the median.

It measures variability in the middle half of the data set

QD = (Q3 - Q1)/2

It allows us to determine the median using Q1 or Q3

It eliminates the problem of extreme values using RANGE

Still, it does not completely reflect variability

 Mean Absolute Deviation
A more reliable indicator of variability

It considers the extent to which each individual score in a

distribution deviates from the mean
_
x=X-X
Where
x is the score's deviation from the mean
X is the particular score
MAD = (∑ |x| ) / N -for ungrouped data

MAD = (∑ (f |Xi - Mean| ) ) / N-for grouped data

Where

• x is the score's deviation

• N is the total frequency

• f is the frequency of the class

• Xi is the class mark

Example: find the MAD of 15,15,17,18 and 20
Solution

Values |x|
15 2
15 2
17 0
18 1
20 3
Total
8

MAD = 8/5 = 1.6

Try the following grouped data:

 = ( (  - ean ) ) / N

f|Xi-
Class |Xi-
fi Xi fiXi Mean|
Interval Mean|

118-126 3
127-135 5
136-144 9
145-153 12
154-162 5
163-171 4
172-180 2
40