Measures of Variability

EXAMPLE 1: The following are the scores of 15 students in a 15-item test: 9, 11, 8, 14, 10, 7, 9, 7, 13,
15, 10, 6, 11, 8, 12. Compute for the range, variance and standard deviation.

SOLUTION​:
RANGE: Subtract the lowest score from the highest score.
range = 15 - 6 = 9
Therefore, the range is 9.

VARIANCE:
Step 1.​ Work out the mean.
ΣX 9+11+8+14+10+7+9+7+13+15+10+6+11+8+12 150
μ = N
= 15 = 15 = 10
Step 2​. For each score, subtract the mean. That is ( X i - μ ), column 2 of the table. Then square each
result (column 3).

Scores (X) (X - μ ) (X − μ)2

9 -1 1

11 1 1

8 -2 4

14 4 16

10 0 0

7 -3 9

9 -1 1

7 -3 9

13 3 9

15 5 25

10 0 0

6 -4 16

11 1 1

8 -2 4

12 2 4

μ = 10 Σ(X − μ)2 = 100

 Step 3.​ Divide the sum of the squared differences (column 3) by the total number of scores (N).
2
Σ(X−μ) 100
σ2 = N
= 15
= ​6.67
Therefore, the variance is equal to 6.67.

STANDARD DEVIATION:
To solve for σ , ​we simply get the square root of the variance.
σ = √6.67 = 2.58.
Therefore, the standard deviation is equal to 2.58.

Hence, μ = 10; range = 9; σ 2 = 6.67 ; σ = 2.58.

EXAMPLE 2: The following are the scores of 10 students in a 15-item test: 15, 8, 7, 13, 9, 7, 11, 9, 12, 9.
Compute for the range, variance and standard deviation.
RANGE: Subtract the lowest score from the highest score.
range = 15 - 7 = 8
Therefore, the range is 8.

VARIANCE:
Step 1.​ Work out the mean.
ΣX 15+8+7+13+9+7+11+9+12+9 100
μ = N = 10 = 10 = 10
Step 2​. For each score, subtract the mean. That is ( X i - μ ), column 2 of the table. Then square each
result (column 3).

Scores (X) (X - μ ) (X − μ)2

15 5 25

8 -2 4

7 -3 9

13 3 9

9 -1 1

7 -3 9

11 1 1

9 -1 1

12 2 4

9 -1 1

μ = 10 Σ(X − μ)2 = 64
 Step 3.​ Divide the sum of the squared differences (column 3) by the total number of scores (N).
Σ(X−μ)2 64
σ2 = N = 10 = 6.4
Therefore, the variance is equal to 6.4.

STANDARD DEVIATION:
To solve for σ , we simply get the square root of the variance.
σ = √6.67 = 2.53.
Therefore, the standard deviation is equal to 2.53.

Hence, μ = 10; range = 8; σ 2 = 6.4 ; σ = 2.53.