Measures of Dispersion

(Variability)
 Measures of dispersion or
variability
• measures the extent to which data
dispersed, or spread out.
• Two sets of data may have the same
measures of central tendency but
different variations, or they may have
the same measures of variations but
different measures of central
tendencies, it is possible that they have
different measures of central tendency.
 Some commonly used measures of
dispersion
• Range
• Quartile Deviation
• Mean Absolute Deviation
• Variance
• Standard Deviation
 Range
• A set of data with N observations is
defined as the difference between the
highest and the lowest value.
• Simplest of the measures of spread or
variability.
Range = Highest Value – Lowest Value
• In a frequency distribution table,
the range is the difference between
the upper limit of the highest class
interval and the lower limit of the
lowest class interval.
• Although the range is the easiest to
compute and easiest to understand, it is
also the least satisfactory because its
value is dependent only upon the two
extremes and does not consider the
scatter of the values in between these
two extremes.
 Consider the given example
Test scores of Linda and Pinky
Linda 17 18 7 15 14 13 R = 11
Pinky 18 10 17 11 18 10 R=8

If we compare the test scores, we will see that

Linda’s test scores have a higher range than
that of Pinky’s test scores. This range tell us
that Linda’s scores are apparently more
scattered than Pinky’s.
 Quartile Deviation
• Of a set of data with N observations is
the amount of spread within the middle
half of the items arranged in array. It is
sometimes called the semi-interquartile
range.
• Is an improvement of the range because
it eliminates the effect of two extreme
values. It is used for ordinal data.
• It is also the amount of spread between
the first quartile and the median or the
median and the third quartile.
Find the interquartile range for the length of stay
0,      2,     3,      4,      5,      5,      6,      7,      8,      9,       9,      9,    
10,     10,     10,     10,     10,     11,     12,     12,     12,     13,     14,    
16,     18,     18,     19,     22,     27,     49
Position of Q1 = 7.75
Position of Q3 = 23.25
Q1 = 6.75
Q3 = 14.50
Mean = 10

As indicated above, the median for the length of stay

data is 10. Note that the distance between Q1 and the
median is 10 − 6.75 = 3.25. The distance between
Q3 and the median is 14.5−10 = 4.5. This indicates that
the length of stay data is skewed slightly to the right
(to the longer lengths of stay).
 Formula

Q3  Q1
QD 
2
 Mean Absolute deviation
• We have learned that the range is the
based only on the highest and lowest
values on the distribution while the
quartile deviation identifies only the
distance that is half the range between
the first and third quartiles.
 Mean Absolute Deviation
• Of a set of data with N observations is the
average of the absolute values of the
difference between the individual values and
the mean.
 Example
92 83 88 94 91 85 89 90 A
94 85 86 93 5 88 91 90 B
MEAN of A = 89 MAD of A = 2.875 or 2.88
MEAN of B = 79 MAD of B = 18.50

The fact that the MAD is small also means that data
in the set are close together.
The large MAD value tells you that the data is widely
scattered because of the outlier. (The mean is
affected by the outlier)
 Formula
For ungrouped Data
Where X is the individual Score/values
X bar is the mean
N is the total number of data

MAD 
 |X X |
N
 Grouped Data
Where X is the individual Score/values
X bar is the mean
f is the frequency
N is the total number of data

MAD 
 f |X  X |
N
 Variance and Standard Deviation
• Of a set of data with N observations
are special forms of average
deviation from the mean which is
affected by all individual values of
the items in any given distribution.
They measure the average scatter
around the mean.
 Formula for Finding the Population Variance
(Ungrouped Data)

Where X is the individual Score/values

X bar is the mean
N is the population size


2
(X  X )
 2

N
 Formula for Finding the Population Variance
(Grouped Data)

Where X is the individual Score/values

X bar is the mean
N is the population size


2
f (X  X )
 2

N
 Formula for Finding the Sample Variance
(Ungrouped Data)

Where X is the individual Score/values

X bar is the mean
n is the population size


2
(X  X )
s 2

n 1
 Formula for Finding the Sample Variance
(Grouped Data)

Where X is the individual Score/values

X bar is the mean
n is the population size


2
f (X  X )
s 2

n 1