Lesson 6

Measures of
Variability
 Measures of Variability

 Consider two sets of distributions.

Compute for their means.

a. 70, 76, 78, 81, 85, 88, 89 x = 81

 
b. 77, 78, 79, 80, 83, 85, 85 x = 81
 Measures of Variability
IMPORTANT!!!
The measure of averages alone is not
sufficient to describe the distribution.
Averages locate the center of the
distribution but they do not tell us how are
the observations are positioned in relation
to the center.
 
 Measures of Variability
Absolute Measures of Variability
 The range, the quartile deviation, the average or
mean deviation, the standard deviation, and the
variance give us the distances of the scores from
the measures of central tendency. They are
categorized as the measures of absolute
variability since their units are the same as those
of the original units

Relative Measures of Variability

If two or more distributions of different units are
to be compared, it is more appropriate to use the
measures of relative variability. These measures
are the coefficient of variation and the standard
scores.
 Measures of Variability
The Range
 The range is the simplest and the easiest to
compute among the measures of variability
because it depends only on the pair of extreme
values
 But it is also the most unstable since its value
easily fluctuates with the change in either of the
highest or lowest observations.
 It is also the most unreliable because it does not
give the dispersion or spread of the observations
between the two extreme values.
 Measures of Variability
NOTE:
A more reliable measure
should include all the
values in the distribution to
give us an adequate
spread of all the scores
from the average.
 
 Measures of Variability

Exclusive Range
It is the difference between the highest
and the lowest score in a distribution.
The exclusive range is used for
ungrouped data.
 Measures of Variability

Example:
If the lowest score in a
distribution is 24 and the
highest is 39, what is the
exclusive range?
 Measures of Variability
Inclusive range.
o It is the difference between the lower
class boundary of the lowest observation
and the upper class boundary of the
highest observation.
o Generally, the inclusive range is used for
grouped data.
 Measures of Variability

Example:
5– 9 lower scores
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 – 24 higher scores

Find the inclusive range.

 Measures of Variability

Solution:
R = highest UCB - lowest LCB
= 24.5 - 4.5
R = 20 (inclusive range)
 Measures of Variability
Quartile Deviation
Reduces the effect of the extremely low
and high observations on the measure of
dispersion.
The quartile deviation is used when the
median is the preferred measure of the
central tendency, that is, if there are
scattered or extreme observations in the
distribution.
 It gives the spread of the observations
around the median or the middle 50% of
the cases in a distribution.
 Measures of Variability

Interquartile Range - the spread of

distribution used the third and first
quartiles corresponding to the 75th and
25th percentiles, respectively.
 
Interquartile Range = Q3  Q1
 Measures of Variability
Semi-interquartile range (also known as
quartile deviation) of a set of data is defined

Semi-interquartile Range = Q3  Q1
QD 
2
where Q1 and Q3 are the first and third
quartiles of the data respectively.
 Measures of Variability
Example:
Using the given set of observation, determine
the
Interquartile range ( IR )
Quartile deviation ( QD )

Sets of Observations:
A: 10, 8, 6, 4, 14, 11 , 16, 7
B: 9, 4, 8, 7, 9, 8, 10, 17
 Measures of Variability
Solution:
16 14 11 10 8 7 6 4
Solving for Q3 and Q1
P  n  1 75 8  1 Q3  13.25
  6.75
100 100
P  n  1 25 8  1 Q  6.25
  2.25
100 100

Interquartile Range = Q3 – Q1 = 13.25 – 6.25 = 7

Q3  Q1 7
Quartile Deviation =   3.5
2 2
 Measures of Variability
For grouped data, consider the example below. 

Example :

The following data are frequency distributions of two sections in

Statistics in a 100 item examination.
Set A Set B
f f
70-74 4 71-75 3
75-79 12 76-80 8
80-84 15 81-85 13
85-89 13 86-90 7
90-94 6 91-95 5
95-99 5 96-100 4

Solving for Q1 or P25 and Q3 or P75

 Measures of Variability
The formula for Q a quartile point is
 in 
   cf bi 
Pi  l i   100 c
 fi 
 
 

Quartile Deviation

Q3  Q1
QD 
2
Measures of Variability

Set A

LL – UL f <cf
70-74 4 4
75-79 12 16
80-84 15 31
85-89 13 44
90-94 6 50
95-99 5 55
c=5 n = 55
 Measures of Variability
For Set A
 13.75  4   41.25  31 
p 25  74.5   5 p75  84.5   5
 12   13 
p 25  78.5625 p 75  88.442
88.442  78.5625
QD   4.93975
2

For Set B
 10  3 
p 25  75.5    30  24 
5 p75  85.5   5
 8   7 
p 25  79.875 p 75  89.786
89.786  79.875
QD   4.956
2
 Measures of Variability
The Average or Mean Deviation
The average or mean deviation takes into
account all the values in a given distribution.
The formula for mean deviation is

MD 
 X  X
n
where
X  X is read as “the absolute value of x andX
x = score of value
X = mean

n = number of cases
 Measures of Variability
Example 4.
Given the two sets of distribution,
let us solve for the mean
deviations.

Set A: 28, 29, 32, 37 and 39

Set B: 25, 32, 33, 40 and 45
 Measures of Variability
Set A x  x
X 28  33
28 29  33
29 32  33
32
37  33
37 39  33
39
 x  165   20
MD 
 X  X

20
or 4
n 5

This means that on the average, the scores

deviated from the mean by 4.
 Measures of Variability
Set B x  x
X
25  35
25
32 32  35
33  35
33
40 40  35

45 45  35

 175  30

MD 
 X  X

30
or 6
n 5
This means that on the average, the scores
deviated from the mean by 6.
Measures of Variability

Sets Mean Mean Deviation

A 33 4

B 35 6

If the mean deviations for sets A, and B,

are 4, and 6 respectively, it can be
concluded that B has greater variability
than A.
 Measures of Variability
Grouped Data

For the grouped data the mean deviation can be

calculated using the following formula:

MD 
 f 1 xi  x
n
where xi = class marks
x = grouped data mean
n = total frequency
fi = frequency per class intervals
Measures of Variability
Example 5. Compute the mean deviation for the data in
Example 3.
Set A Set B

LL – UL f LL – UL f
70-74 4 71-75 3
75-79 12 76-80 8
80-84 15 81-85 13
85-89 13 86-90 7
90-94 6 91-95 5
95-99 5 96-100 4
c=5 n = 55 c=5 n = 40
 Measures of Variability
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
CI fi xi fixi
LL - UL
70 – 74 4 72 288 11.82 47.28
75 – 79 12 77 924 6.82 81.84
80 – 84 15 82 1230 1.82 27.3
85 – 89 13 87 1131 3.18 41.34
90 – 94 6 92 552 8.18 49.08
95 – 99 5 97 485 13.18 65.9
c=5 n = 55 4610 312.74

x
 fx i i

4610
 83.82 MD 
 f i xi  x

312.74
 5.69
n 55 n 55
 Measures of Variability
Variance and Standard Deviation
Using the absolute value symbol, the influence of the
negative signs is eliminated in the computation of the
mean deviation or average deviation.

Another way would be to square the deviation from the

mean. Adding these squared deviations and dividing
the sum by the number of items, the variance, which is
a basic measure of dispersion, is obtained.

Extracting the square root of the variance yields

the standard deviation, the most commonly used
measure of dispersion or variability.
 Measures of Variability
Variance and Standard Deviation of Ungrouped Data

The formula for variance ungrouped data is

x  2
i x
s2 =
n 1

The standard deviation for ungrouped data

is the square root of the variance

 X 
n
2
1  X
S  i 1

n 1
 Measures of Variability

If the standard deviation of the

population is needed, S is changed
to σ. The formula for σ2 is given by

where N = size of the population

 Measures of Variability
Example 3.
To illustrate the computation for standard deviation of the
sample of ungrouped data, consider the distribution below.

Score Deviation Squared Deviations

(X) from the Mean from the Mean

7  X  X 7 – 10 = -3 X  2
 X (-3)2 =
9
8 8 – 10 = -2 (-2)2 =
4
10 10 – 10 = 0 (0)2 = 0
12 12 – 10 = 2 (2)2 = 4
13 13 – 10 = 3
 X  X   0  X
(3)2 = 9
 2
X  50 X  26

50
X  or10
5
 Measures of Variability
x  2
i x
S2 = n 1 = 6.5

 X 
n
2
 X
S  i 1
1
S  2.55
n 1

An equivalent formula does away with computing for the

mean and the deviations of the observations.
 x 2

variance = S 2 = x 2

n
n 1

 X  2

X 2

n
standard deviation = S 
n 1
 Measures of Variability
Example: Solve for the variance and standard
deviation

X (X2)

10 102 = 100
9 92 = 81
7 72 = 49
5 52 = 25
4 42 = 16
2 22 = 4

 X  37 Σx2 = 275
 Measures of Variability

Solution:
 x 2

x 2

n
s2 =n  1

275 
 37 
2

s2  6
6 1

46.834
s2=
5
= 9.366

s  3.06
 Measures of Variability
An Efficient Way of Computing the Sample
Standard Deviation of Grouped Data

The short formula for standard deviation for grouped data is

 f d   fd
2 2

s  c   
n  n 
 

where c = class size

f = class frequency
d = class deviation
n = number of cases or total frequency
 Measures of Variability
Example 4.
To illustrate the preceding formula, take for example
the grouped data which shows the wages per day
of the laborers in a certain construction.
Wages No. of d fd (d)2 f(d)2
Laborers
(f)
80-84 8 2 16 4 32
75-79 12 1 12 1 12
70-74 16 0 0 0 0
65-69 13 -1 -13 1 13
60-64 9 -2 -18 4 36
f  58  fd '  3  f (d ) 2
 93
Measures of Variability

   fd
2
f (d ) 2 
sc  
n  n 
 

2
93   3 
s5  
58  58 

s  6.325
 Measures of Variability
Another formula that can be used to solve the
variance and standard deviation of grouped data
is the long method.

s2 
 
f xx  2

variance n 1

 f  x  x
2

standard deviation = S =
n 1
 Measures of Variability
Using the preceding data, let us compute the variance
using this second formula.

 f  58  fX  4161  f ( X  X ) 2  2321.1208
Measures of Variability

X 
 fX
X 
4161
or 71.74
n 58

s

f XX  2

s
2321.1208
n 1 58  1

s  6.326
 Measures of Variability
Coefficient of Variation
The coefficient of variation is used to express the
standard deviation as a percentage of the mean.
To compare two distributions with different means and
standard deviation we have to compute for the coefficient
of variation to express them in the same unit, that is, in
terms of percentage.

To illustrate we use the formula

s
CV  (100%)
x
where
CV stands for the coefficient of
variation;
S, the standard deviation;
and X is the mean
 Measures of Variability
Example 8
Department store A has a mean weekly
sales
of 340 bags with a standard deviation of 12.
Department store B has a mean weekly
sales of 550 bags with a standard deviation
of 15. In relative terms, which store has the
greater variability in their weekly sales?
 Measures of Variability
C

Example 9:
The mean score of a statistics test
of class A is 75 with
C a standard
deviation of 13 while class B has
a mean score of 86 with a standard
deviation of 16.

Which class has a larger variation

from the mean?
 Measures of Variability
C
Solution:
13
Class A: (100)  17.33%
75
C
16
Class B: 86
(100)  18.60%

Interpretation:

Thus, Class B has a larger variation from the

mean.This means that the students are more
homogenous in Class A than in Class B.
This further implies that the teacher in Class B
has to exert more effort to meet the individual
needs of the students.
END OF THE SHOW