Lecture No: 4

Measures of Dispersion

Course Instructor:
1
Shagufta Saleem Shaikh
 Definition
Dispersion refers to the variations of the
items among themselves / around an
average.
Greater the variation amongst different
items of a series, the more will be the
dispersion.
As per Bowley, “Dispersion is a measure of
the variation of the items”.
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 Measures of Dispersion
The more similar the scores are to each
other, the lower the measure of dispersion
will be.

The less similar the scores are to each other,

the higher the measure of dispersion will be

In general, the more spread out a

distribution is, the larger the measure of
dispersion will be 3
 Measures of Dispersion
There are three main measures of
dispersion:

The range
The semi-interquartile range (SIR)
Standard deviation

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 The Range

It is defined as the difference between the

largest and smallest values in the series.
OR
The range is defined as the difference between
the largest score in the set of data and the
smallest score in the set of data, XL – XS

R=L–S
R=Range, L= Largest Value, S=Smallest value 5
 The Range
Example: What is the range of the following data:
4 8 1 6 6 2 9 3 6 9
The largest score (XL) is 9; the smallest
score (XS) is 1;
the range is XL - XS = 9 - 1 = 8

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 Co-efficient of Range
It is defined as the relative measure of the
distribution based on the range of any given data
set, which is the difference between the maximum
and minimum value in the given set.

Co-efficient of Range = L – S
L+S

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Example: Let us consider an example, Find out the range
and the coefficient of range in the following data,
Data = 8, 5, 6, 7, 3, 2, 4
Step 1: Find Range
Range = Maximum Value - Minimum Value
Range = 8 - 2
Range = 6
Step 2: Find Range Coefficient
Coefficient of Range = (Maximum Value - Minimum
Value) / (Maximum Value + Minimum Value)
= (8 - 2) / (8 + 2)
= 6 / 10
Coefficient of Range = 0.6 8
 Practice Problems
Q1: Find the range & Coefficient of Range for the
following data: 20, 35, 25, 30, 15

Q2: Find the range & Coefficient of Range for the

following data: 13, 23, 11, 25, 18, 20, 40

Q3: Find the range & Coefficient of Range

X 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
F 15 18 25 30 16 10 9

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 Range for grouped data
1. Range for grouped data is defined as the
difference between the upper class-boundary of
the highest class and the lower class-boundary of
the lowest class.

2. Range for grouped data is also defined as the

difference between the mid-points of the highest
and the lowest class.

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 Range for grouped data
Q1: Find range and its co-efficient from the
following data.
Class-Boundaries Frequency Mid-Point
59.5 - 64.5 127 62
64.5 – 69.5 133 67
69.5 – 74.5 142 72
74.5 – 79.5 178 77
79.5 – 84.5 140 82
84.5 – 89.5 130 87

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Method: 1 Example:
Range = Maximum Value - Minimum Value
Range = 89.5 – 59.5
Range = 30
Coefficient of Range = (Maximum Value - Minimum Value) /
(Maximum Value + Minimum Value)
= (89.5 – 59.5) / (89.5 + 59.5) = 0.2031

Method: 2 Example:
Range = Maximum Value - Minimum Value
Range = 87 – 62
Range = 25
Coefficient of Range = (Maximum Value - Minimum Value) /
(Maximum Value + Minimum Value)
= (87 - 62) / (87 + 62) = 0.1678 12
 Quartile
A quartile is a statistical term that describes
a division of observations into four defined
intervals based on the values of the data and
how they compare to the entire set of
observations.

The quartile measures the spread of values

above and below the mean by dividing the
distribution into four groups.
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 Quartile
Each quartile contains 25% of the total
observations. Generally, the data is arranged from
smallest to largest:

First quartile: the lowest 25% of numbers

Second quartile: between 25.1% and 50% (up to
the median)
Third quartile: 50.1% to 75% (above the median)
Fourth quartile: the highest 25% of numbers
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 Interquartile Range, Quartile deviation &
Co-efficient of quartile deviation
Interquartile Range: is the difference between the upper
quartile (Q3) and the lower quartile (Q1)
It covers dispersion of middle 50% of the items of the series.
Interquartile Range = Q3 – Q1
Quartile Deviation: is half of the interquartile range. It is also
called Semi Interquartile Range
Quartile Deviation = 𝑄3 −𝑄1
2
Coefficient of Quartile Deviation: It is the relative measure
of quartile deviation.
Coefficient of Q.D. = 𝑄3 −𝑄1
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𝑄3 +𝑄1
 Practice Problems
Q 1. Find the interquartile range, quartile deviation
and co-efficient quartile deviation:
28, 18, 20, 24, 27, 30, 15

Q 1. Find the interquartile range, quartile deviation and

co-efficient quartile deviation:
20, 28, 90, 12, 30, 15, 50

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 Standard Deviation
Measures the variation of observations from the
mean
The most common measure of dispersion
Takes into account every observation
Measures the ‘average deviation’ of
observations from mean
Works with squares of residuals not absolute
values—easier to use in further calculations
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