Measures of Location: Median

• The median specifies the middle value when the data are arranged from least to
greatest.
➢ Half the data are below the median, and half the data are above it.
➢ For an odd number of observations, the median is the middle of the sorted
numbers.
➢ For an even number of observations, the median is the mean of the two middle
numbers.

• Or use the Sort option in Excel to rank-order the data and then determine the
median.
The Excel function =MEDIAN(data range) could also be used.
• The median is meaningful for ratio, interval, and ordinal data

Example 2: Computing Median height

• Sort the data from smallest to largest. Since we have 12 observations, the median
is the average of the 6th and 7th observation.
• Median = (67.90265 + 68.21660)/2
= 68.05963
• Using Excel MEDIAN Function
=MEDIAN(B2:B13)

Measures of Dispersion
• Dispersion refers to the degree of variation in the data; that is, the numerical
spread (or compactness) of the data.
• Key measures:
➢ Range
➢ Interquartile range
➢ Variance and Standard deviation

Measures of Dispersion: Range

• The range is the simplest and is the difference between the maximum value and the
minimum value in the data set.
• In Excel, compute as
=MAX(data range) – MIN(data range)
• For the Height data:
➢ Maximum = 71.51521
➢ Minimum = 65.78331
➢ Range = 71.51521-65.78331 = 5.73190

Measures of Dispersion: Interquartile Range

• The interquartile range (IQR), or the midspread is the difference between the first
and third quartiles, Q3 – Q1.
• In Excel, compute as
➢ Third Quartile (Q3) =QUARTILE.INC(data range,3)
➢ First Quartile (Q1) =QUARTILE.INC(data range,1)
• For the Height data:
➢ Q3 = 69.72389
➢ Q1 = 67.41309

➢ IQR = Q3-Q1 = 69.72389-67.41309 =2.31080