HANDOUT 2.

1
Measures of Variation/Variability/Dispersion

Measures of Variation
- these are measures that consider how the values in a distribution vary from one another and from
the center of the distribution. They are also called measures of variability, spread, and dispersion.

- are measures of the average distance of each observation from the center of distribution. They
measure the homogeneity or heterogeneity of a particular group.

Measures of Variation for Ungrouped Data

1. Range is the distance or difference of the highest value and the lowest value. This is the simplest
measure of variation but the most unreliable measure since it only uses two values in the
distribution.

Formula for Range of Ungrouped Data:

𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 (𝑅) = 𝐻𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝐿𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

How to interpret the Range:

The higher the range the more scattered or far apart are the data, the lower the range the closer to
each other are the data.

Example:
Consider the following sets of grades in Statistics of two groups of students
Group 1 Group 2
Rey: 95 Mathy: 82
Jeson: 80 Angel: 80
Raive: 60 Ces: 83
John: 70 Xandy: 81
JR: 100 Sheila: 79

The mean or average grade for both groups is 81, this means both groups performed equally
well in the said test but it does not explain how far apart the grades are from one another.

So, we use the Range to know how far part are the grades of each student in each group.

Group 1: The highest value is 100 and the lowest value is 60, so we have
𝑅 = 𝐻𝑣 − 𝐿𝑣 = 100 − 60 = 𝟒𝟎
Group 2: The highest value is 83 and the lowest value is 79, so we have
𝑅 = 𝐻𝑣 − 𝐿𝑣 = 83 − 79 = 𝟒

Interpretation: The range of the grades of Group 1 is 40 and of Group 2 is 4, which

shows that the grades of Group 1 are scattered while Group 2 are close to each other.

Disadvantages of Range as a Measure of Variation:

• For a very large sample, it is an unstable descriptive measure of dispersion.
• Since only two values are used in the computation, the range is an unreliable measure
of dispersion.
 • The range of two sets of data composed of different numbers of samples are not directly
comparable.

2. The Average Deviation (AD) is the average summation of the absolute deviation of each
observation from the mean.

Formula of Average Deviation for Ungrouped Data:

∑𝑛𝑖=1|𝑋𝑖 − 𝑋̅ |
𝐴𝐷 =
𝑁
Where: 𝑋𝑖 = are the values or scores from the raw data
𝑋̅ = is the mean
𝑁 = is the total number of cases or the population/sample size

How to interpret the Average Deviation:

The higher the Average Deviation the more heterogenous is the group’s ability. This also
means that the data are different from each other. The lower the Average Deviation the more
homogenous is the group’s ability and the data are more likely similar/close from each other.

Example:
We will use the previous example and find the average deviation of each group.

Mean of Group 1 Mean of Group 2

60+70+80+95+100 79+80+81+82+83
𝑋̅ = = 81 𝑋̅ = = 81
5 5

Score Mean Score – Mean Score Mean Score – Mean

(𝑿) ̅)
(𝑿 |𝑿 − 𝑿̅| (𝑿) ̅)
(𝑿 ̅|
|𝑿 − 𝑿
60 81 |60 − 81| = 21 79 81 |79 − 81| = 2
70 81 |70 − 81| = 11 80 81 |80 − 81| = 1
80 81 |80 − 81| = 1 81 81 |81 − 81| = 0
95 81 |95 − 81| = 14 82 81 |82 − 81| = 1
100 81 |100 − 81| = 19 83 81 |83 − 81| = 2
∑|𝑿 − 𝑿̅ | = 66 ∑|𝑿 − 𝑿̅| = 6

Average Deviation of Average Deviation of

Group 1 Group 2

∑|𝑋−𝑋̅| 66 ∑|𝑋−𝑋̅| 6
𝐴𝐷 = = = 𝟏𝟑. 𝟐 𝐴𝐷 = = 5 = 𝟏. 𝟐
𝑁 5 𝑁

Interpretation: Based on the average deviation of the two groups, Group 2 is more
homogeneous than the Group 1 in their ability in Statistics. This also means that the scores
of the students in Group 2 are more similar/closer from each other compared to the scores
of students in Group 1.

Disadvantages of Average Deviation:

1. Since the mean is used in the computation, then it is also greatly affected by extreme
values.
2. Its use in further statistical computation is very limited.
3. It is not amenable to algebraic manipulation because of the use of absolute values.
3. Variance is the average of the squared deviation of each data value from the mean.

Formula of the Variance for Ungrouped Data

∑𝑁 ̅ 2
𝑖=1(𝑋𝑖 −𝑋 )
Population variance: 𝜎 2 =
𝑁
∑𝑛 (𝑋 −𝑋̅)2
Sample variance: 𝑠 2
𝑖=1 𝑖
=
𝑛−1

Where: 𝑋𝑖 = are the values or scores from the raw data

𝑋̅ = is the mean
𝑁 = is the population size
𝑛 = is the sample size

How to interpret the Variance:

• The higher the variance the more spread out the data values are from the mean and from
each other. The lower the variance the closer the data values are from the mean and from
each other.
• The higher the variance the more heterogenous is the group’s ability, the lower the
variance the more homogenous is the group’s ability.

Example:
Compute for the variance of each group from the previous example.

Group 1 Group 2

Score Mean ̅
𝑿−𝑿 ̅ )𝟐
(𝑿 − 𝑿 Score Mean ̅
𝑿−𝑿 ̅ )𝟐
(𝑿 − 𝑿
(𝑿) ̅)
(𝑿 (𝑿) ̅)
(𝑿
60 81 60 – 81 = -21 (-21)2 = 441 79 81 79 – 81 = -2 (-2)2 = 4
70 81 70 – 81 = -11 (-11)2 = 121 80 81 80 – 81 = -1 (-1)2 = 1
80 81 80 – 81 = -1 (-1)2 = 1 81 81 81 – 81 = 0 (0)2 = 0
95 81 95 – 81 = 14 (14)2 = 196 82 81 82 – 81 = 1 (1)2 = 1
100 81 100 – 81 = 19 (19)2 = 361 83 81 83 – 81 = 2 (2)2 = 4
̅ )𝟐 =
∑(𝑿 − 𝑿 1,120 ∑(𝑿 − 𝑿̅ )𝟐 = 10

Treating the data as population, the variance is:

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 1120 ∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 10
Group 1: 𝜎 2 = 𝑁
= 5
= 𝟐𝟐𝟒 Group 2: 𝜎 2 = 𝑁
= 5
=𝟐

Treating the data as sample, the variance is:

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 1120 ∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 10
Group 1: 𝑠 2 = = = 𝟐𝟖𝟎 Group 2: 𝑠 2 = = = 𝟐. 𝟓
𝑁−1 4 𝑁−1 4

Interpretation: Using the variance as a measure of variability for the two sets of grades, Group
1 showed more variability in performance than in Group 2. It also indicates that the ability of
Group 2 is more homogenous compared with that of Group 1 in terms of their grade in
Statistics.
4. Standard Deviation is the square root of the variance. It is considered to be most reliable
measure of variation.

Formula of Standard Deviation for Ungrouped Data:

∑𝑁 ̅ 2
√ 𝑖=1(𝑋𝑖 − 𝑋)
𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: 𝜎 =
𝑁
∑ ̅ )2
𝑛 (𝑋 − 𝑋
𝑖
𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: 𝑠 = √ 𝑖=1
𝑛−1
Where: 𝑋𝑖 = are the values or scores from the raw data
𝑋̅ = is the mean
𝑁 = is the population size
𝑛 = is the sample size

How to interpret the Standard Deviation:

The higher the standard deviation the more scattered or spread out are the data from the mean,
the lower the standard deviation the closer are the data to the mean.

Example:
Compute for the standard of each group from the previous example.

Treating the data as population, the standard deviation is:

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 1120 ∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 10
Group 1: 𝜎 = √ =√ = 𝟏𝟒. 𝟗𝟕 Group 2: 𝜎 = √ =√ = 𝟏. 𝟒𝟏
𝑁 5 𝑁 5

Treating the data as sample, the standard deviation is:

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 1120 ∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 10
Group 1: 𝑠 = √ =√ = 𝟏𝟔. 𝟕𝟑 Group 2: 𝑠 = √ =√ = 𝟏. 𝟓𝟖
𝑁−1 4 𝑁−1 4

Interpretation: The scores of Group 1 are more spread out than the scores of Group 2, which
indicates that the scores of group 2 are closer to the mean and of Group 1 is far from the mean.

More Examples:
1. The following are the monthly income of 8 sample families in a certain street in Makati
Php48,000 Php39,000 Php35,000 Php41,000
Php28,000 Php50,000 Php33,000 Php40,000

Questions:
a. Find the variance and standard deviation.
b. Interpret the result.

Solution:

𝑿 ̅
𝑿 𝑿−𝑿 ̅ ̅ )𝟐
(𝑿 − 𝑿
Php48,000 39,250 8,750 76,562,500
Php39,000 39,250 -250 62,500
Php28,000 39,250 -11,250 126,562,500
Php35,000 39,250 -4,250 18,062,500
Php50,000 39,250 10,750 115,562,500
 Php41,000 39,250 1,750 3,062,500
Php33,000 39,250 -6,250 39,062,500
Php40,000 39,250 750 562,500
∑ 𝑋 = 314,000 ̅ 2
∑(𝑋 − 𝑋 ) = 379,500,000
∑𝑋 314,000
a. First find the mean: 𝑋̅ = 𝑁 = 8 = 𝟑𝟗, 𝟐𝟓𝟎

Since the data is from the sample use the following formula and solve for the variance and
standard deviation.

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 379,500,000
Sample Variance: 𝑠 2 = 𝑁−1
= 7
= 𝟓𝟒, 𝟐𝟏𝟒, 𝟐𝟖𝟓. 𝟕𝟏

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 379,500,000
Sample Standard Deviation: 𝑠 = √ 𝑁−1
=√ 7
= √54,214,285.71 = 𝟕, 𝟑𝟔𝟑. 𝟎𝟒

b. Interpretation: Since the standard deviation is high it means that the data are far from the
mean.

2. The following are the number of points that two volleyball players earned upon striking a
spike on the opponent on 10 randomly selected games in the 2019 volleyball season.

Table 1
Points earned upon striking a spike by two volleyball players in the 2019
Tournament

Game Player 1 Player 2

1 7 9
2 10 7
3 6 4
4 12 1
5 6 5
6 13 12
7 2 9
8 5 10
9 0 8
10 8 3

a. Complete the table.

∑𝑿 𝑋̅ 𝑠2 𝑠
Player 1
Player 2

To complete the table, we need to solve for the following items.

To solve for the mean.

∑𝑋 69 ∑𝑋 68
Player 1: 𝑋̅ = = = 𝟔. 𝟗 Player 2: 𝑋̅ = = = 𝟔. 𝟖
𝑁 10 𝑁 10

Player 1 Player 1 Player 1 Player 1 Player 2 Player 2 Player 2 Player 2

Game ̅ ̅ ̅ )𝟐 ̅ ̅ ̅ )𝟐
𝑿 𝑿 𝑿−𝑿 (𝑿 − 𝑿 𝑿 𝑿 𝑿−𝑿 (𝑿 − 𝑿
1 7 6.9 0.1 0.01 9 6.8 2.2 4.84
2 10 6.9 3.1 9.61 7 6.8 0.2 0.04
 3 6 6.9 -0.9 0.81 4 6.8 -2.8 7.84
4 12 6.9 5.1 26.01 1 6.8 -5.8 33.64
5 6 6.9 -0.9 0.81 5 6.8 -1.8 3.24
6 13 6.9 6.1 37.21 12 6.8 5.2 27.04
7 2 6.9 -4.9 24.01 9 6.8 2.2 4.84
8 5 6.9 -1.9 3.61 10 6.8 3.2 10.24
9 0 6.9 -6.9 47.61 8 6.8 1.2 1.44
10 8 6.9 1.1 1.21 3 6.8 -3.8 14.44
∑ 𝑿 = 69 150.9 ∑ 𝑿 = 68 107.6

To solve for the variance, we have

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 150.9 ∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 107.6

Player 1: 𝑠 2 = 𝑁−1
= 9
= 𝟏𝟔. 𝟕𝟔𝟔𝟕 Player 2: 𝑠 2 = 𝑁−1
= 9
= 𝟏𝟏. 𝟗𝟓𝟓𝟔

To solve for the standard deviation, we have

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 150.9 ∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 107.6

Player 1: 𝑠 = √ =√ = 𝟒. 𝟎𝟗 Player 2: 𝑠 = √ =√ = 𝟑. 𝟒𝟔
𝑁−1 9 𝑁−1 9

∑𝑿 𝑋̅ 𝑠2 𝑠
Player 1 69 6.9 16.77 4.09
Player 2 68 6.8 11.96 3.46

b. Interpret the results

• Player 1 has a better mean score than Player 2 with 6.9 points against 6.8 points per
game.
• Player 2 shows more consistency in the number of points than Player 1 as shown by
standard deviation of which smaller than 4.09 of Player 1.

Other Measures of Variation

Coefficient of Variation is the ratio of standard deviation to the mean. It is used to compare
the variability of two or more sets of data even when they are expressed in different unit of
measurement.

𝑠
𝑐𝑣 = ̅
𝑋
Where: 𝑐𝑣 = coefficient of variation
𝑠 = standard deviation
𝑋̅ = mean

Example: Answer the problem below.

Table 2
Number of Assists and the Number of Points Made by a Point Guard in 10
Randomly-Selected Games in 1999 PBA Season
Game Number of Assists Number of Points
1 8 18
2 10 20
3 9 22
4 12 16
 5 5 35
6 1 12
7 4 23
8 7 25
9 9 30
10 3 15

Complete the table.

Table 3
Measurement of Assists and Points of a Point Guard
𝑋̅ 𝜎 𝑐𝑣
Assists
Points

We need to solve for the mean and the standard deviation.

Assists Assists Assists Points Points Points Points Points
Game ̅ ̅ ̅ 𝟐 ̅ ̅ ̅ )𝟐
𝑿 𝑿 𝑿−𝑿 (𝑿 − 𝑿) 𝑿 𝑿 𝑿 − 𝑿 (𝑿 − 𝑿
1 8 6.8 1.2 1.44 18 21.6 -3.6 12.96
2 10 6.8 3.2 10.24 20 21.6 -1.6 2.56
3 9 6.8 2.2 4.84 22 21.6 0.4 0.16
4 12 6.8 5.2 27.04 16 21.6 -5.6 31.36
5 5 6.8 -1.8 3.24 35 21.6 13.4 179.56
6 1 6.8 -5.8 33.64 12 21.6 -9.6 92.16
7 4 6.8 -2.8 7.84 23 21.6 1.4 1.96
8 7 6.8 0.2 0.04 25 21.6 3.4 11.56
9 9 6.8 2.2 4.84 30 21.6 8.4 70.56
10 3 6.8 -3.8 14.44 15 21.6 -6.6 43.56
68 107.60 216 446.40
To find the coefficient of variation first solve for the mean.
∑𝑋 68 ∑𝑋 216
Mean of Assists: 𝑋̅ = = = 𝟔. 𝟖
𝑁 10
Mean of Points: 𝑋̅ = = = 𝟐𝟏. 𝟔
𝑁 10

To solve for the standard deviation, we have

∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 107.60 ∑(𝑋−𝑋̅ )2 446.40
Assists: 𝜎 = √ 𝑁
=√ 10
= 𝟑. 𝟐𝟖 Points: 𝜎 = √ 𝑁
=√ 10
= 𝟔. 𝟔𝟖

Solve for the coefficient of variation.

a. Coefficient of Variation for giving Assists:
𝜎𝐴 3.28
𝑐𝑣𝐴 = ̅ = = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟖𝟐𝟒
𝑋𝐴 6.8
b. Coefficient of Variation for Making Points:
𝜎𝑃 6.68
𝑐𝑣𝑃 = ̅ = = 𝟎. 𝟑𝟎𝟗𝟑
𝑋𝑃 21.6

Measures of Variation for Grouped Data

1. Range
Formula for Range of Grouped Data:
𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 (𝑅) = 𝐻𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝐿𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
2. Variance
Formula of the Variance for Grouped Data
 2 ∑𝑁 ̅ 2
𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 (𝑋𝑖 −𝑋 )
Population variance: 𝜎 =
𝑁
∑𝑛 ̅ 2
𝑖=1 𝑖 𝑖 −𝑋 )
𝑓 (𝑋
Sample variance: 𝑠 2 =
𝑛−1

Where: 𝑋𝑖 = are the class marks of each class

𝑋̅ = is the mean
𝑁 = is the population size
𝑛 = is the sample size
𝑓𝑖 = is the frequency of each class

3. Standard Deviation
Formula of Standard Deviation for Grouped Data:

∑ ̅ )2
𝑁 𝑓 (𝑋 − 𝑋
√ 𝑖=1 𝑖 𝑖
𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: 𝜎 =
𝑁
𝑛 ̅ 2
√∑𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 (𝑋𝑖 − 𝑋)
𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: 𝑠 =
𝑛−1
Where: 𝑋𝑖 = are the values or scores from the raw data
𝑋̅ = is the mean
𝑁 = is the population size
𝑛 = is the sample size
𝑓𝑖 = is the frequency of each class

Example:
Given the frequency distribution table, find the variance and standard deviation.

Class Class Class Frequency 𝑓𝑋𝑖 ̅

𝑿 ̅
𝑿−𝑿 ̅ )𝟐
(𝑿 − 𝑿 ̅ )𝟐
𝒇(𝑿 − 𝑿
Limits Boundaries Marks (𝑓)
(𝑋𝑖 )
5 – 20 4.5 – 20.5 12.5 6 75 50.26 −37.76 1425.8176 8554.9056
21 – 36 20.5 – 36.5 28.5 9 256.5 50.26 −21.76 473.4976 4261.4784
37 – 52 36.5 – 52.5 44.5 14 623 50.26 −5.76 33.1776 464.4864
53 – 68 52.5 – 68.5 60.5 8 484 50.26 10.24 104.8576 838.8608
69 – 84 68.5 – 84.5 76.5 8 612 50.26 26.24 688.5376 5508.3008
85 – 100 84.5 – 100.5 92.5 5 462.5 50.26 42.24 1784.2176 8921.088
N = 50 ∑ 𝑓𝑋𝑖 28549.12

= 50.26

To find for the variance, we solve first for the mean.

∑𝑋 2515
Mean: 𝑋̅ = 𝑁
= 50
= 𝟓𝟎. 𝟑

∑𝑛 ̅ 2
𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 (𝑋𝑖 −𝑋 ) 28549.12 28549.12
To solve for the variance, we have 𝑠 2 = = = = 𝟓𝟖𝟐. 𝟔𝟒
𝑛−1 50−1 49

∑ 𝑛
𝑓𝑖 (𝑋𝑖 −𝑋) ̅ 2
28549.12
To solve for the standard deviation, we have 𝑠 = √ 𝑖=1 𝑛−1 = √ 49 = √582.64 = 𝟐𝟒. 𝟏𝟒
More Example:
Below are the test scores of 50 students in the 1st Quarter Periodical Exam in Science. Create a frequency
distribution table with 7 classes. Find the range, variance and standard deviation.

38 32 28 20 50 17 21 13 39 10 18 41 18 40

14 15 48 19 37 30 26 40 28 33 25 20 50 31

36 9 40 10 28 3 30 35 46 27 13 29 43 35

42 26 34 35 32 28 20 37