MTU Stat Dept Introduction to statistics Chapter-4

CHAPTER FOUR
4. Measures of Variation (Dispersion)
4.1. Measures of variation (dispersion)
Measures of central tendency locate the center of the distribution. But they do not tell how
individual observations are scattered on either side of the center. The spread of observations
around the center is known as dispersion or variability. In other words; the degree to which
numerical data tend to spread about an average value is called dispersion or variation of the data.
 Small dispersion indicates high uniformity of the observation while larger dispersion
indicates less uniformity.
Objective of measure of dispersion
 To measure reliability of the average being used.
 To control variability itself.
 To compare two or more groups of numbers in terms of their variability.

Desirable properties of measure of dispersion (variation)

1. It should be based on all observations.
2. It should be easily understood and calculated.
3. It should not be affected much by sampling fluctuations.
4. It should be amenable to algebraic treatment. That means it should be precisely defined
(like arithmetic mean). It should not be located by inspection like mode.
5. It should be capable of further statistical analysis.
Absolute and Relative Measures of Dispersion
Measure of dispersion can be classified as absolute and relative form.
Absolute measure of dispersion: is a measure of dispersion w/c are expressed in terms of
the original unit of a series. Such measures are not suitable for comparing the variability of two
distributions which are expressed in different units of measurement and different average size.
Relative measures of dispersions: are a ratio or percentage of a measure of absolute
dispersion to an appropriate measure of central tendency and these are pure numbers
independent of the units of measurement. Relative measures are used for comparing the
variability of two distributions (even if they are measured in the same unit).

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Types of Measures of Dispersion

The most commonly used measures of dispersions are:
1. Range and relative range.
2. Quartile deviation and coefficient of Quartile deviation.
3. Mean deviation and coefficient of Mean deviation.
4. Variance, standard deviation and coefficient of variation.
1. The Range (R) and Relative Range (RR)
The Range is the difference b/n the highest and the smallest observation. That is;

It is a quick and dirty measure of variability. Because of the range is greatly affected by extreme
values, it may give a distorted picture of the scores.
Range is a measure of absolute dispersion and as such cannot be used for comparing variability
of two distributions expressed in different units. The solution is to use relative range or any
other relative measure of variation.
.

2. The Quartile Deviation (Q.D) and Coefficient of Quartile Deviation (C.Q.D)

The inter quartile range (IQR) is the difference between the third and the first quartiles of a set
of items. It is not affected by extreme values. So it is a good indicator of the absolute variability.
Quartile deviation (semi-inter-quartile range): is defined as half of the inter quartile range.

 It is an absolute measure of variation.

 If quartile deviation is to be used for comparing the variability of two series, then it is
necessary to convert the absolute measure to a coefficient of quartile deviation.

Characteristics of quartile deviation

1. The size of the quartile deviation gives an indication about uniformity. If Q.D is small, it
denotes large uniformity. Thus a coefficient of quartile deviation is used for comparing
uniformity or variation in different distributions.

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 MTU Stat Dept Introduction to statistics Chapter-4

2. Quartile deviation is not a measure of dispersion in the sense that it does not show the
scatter around on average, but only a distance on scale. Consequently quartile deviation is
regarded as a measure of partition.
3. It can be computed when the distribution has open-ended classes.
Limitation of quartile deviation: It does not satisfy any other test of a good measure of variation.
Example: For the following frequency distribution, find
a. Inter-quartile range. b. Quartile deviation.
b. Coefficient of quartile deviation. d. Test whether the distribution is symmetric or not.

CI 21-22 23-24 25-26 27-28 29-30 Total

f 10 22 20 14 14 80
lcf 10 32 52 66 80

a.

c. = = 0.083

d. If the distribution is symmetrical

Therefore, the distribution is not symmetrical.

3. Mean Deviation (Average deviation) and Coefficient of Mean Deviation
The mean deviation measures the scatter of individual observations around a central value
(usually the mean or the median) of a distribution. So, the mean deviation is defined as the
arithmetic mean of positive deviations of each observation from either mean or the median of a
distribution.
 If the deviations are taken from the mean then it is called mean deviation from the mean.
If on the other hand, the deviations are taken from the median we call it mean deviation
from the median.
∑ | ̅|
̅

∑ | ̃|
̃

Example: The weight of a sample of six students from a class (in Kg) is given below:
53, 56, 57, 59, 63, and 66.
i. What is the mean deviation from the mean?
ii. What is the mean deviation from the median?

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Solution: ̅ and ̃
∑ | ̅| | | | | | |
̅ = =
∑ | ̃| | | | | | |
̃ = =
Mean deviation for grouped data
For grouped data, the mean deviation from the mean and median are given by
∑ | ̅|
̅ ∑
} For ungrouped frequency distribution.
∑ | ̃|
̃ ∑

∑ | ̅|
̅ ∑
} For grouped frequency distribution.
∑ | ̃|
̃ ∑

The coefficient of mean deviation from the mean and from the median are given by:
̅
̅ ̅
̃
̃ ̃

Example: Find the coefficient of mean deviation from the mean and from the median for the
weight of six students in previous example.

̅
Solution: Coefficient of ̅ = ̅
=
̃
Coefficient of ̃ = ̃
=

Ex: Find the mean deviation and coefficient of mean deviation from the mean and from the
median for the data given below, test results of 10 students collected (out of 20).

Test result (CI) 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20

No of students (f) 4 1 2 3

Limitation: Because of absolute value, mean deviation ignores the algebraic signs of the
deviations and it leads to a series difficulties in inference.
4. Variance and Standard Deviation
Variance: is the average of the squares of the deviations taken from the mean.
Suppose that be the set of observations on N populations. Then,

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 MTU Stat Dept Introduction to statistics Chapter-4

∑ ∑

∑ ̅ ∑ ̅

In general, the sample variance is computed by:

∑ ̅ ∑ ̅

∑ ̅ ∑ ̅
∑
∑ ̅ ∑ ̅
{ ∑
Standard Deviation: it is the square root of variance. Its advantage over the variance is that it is
in the same units as the variable under the consideration. It is a measure of the average variation
in a set of data. It is a measure of how far, on the average, an individual measurements is from
the mean. √ √
Example 1: Compute the variance for the sample: 5, 14, 2, 2 and 17.
Solution: ∑ ̅ ∑
∑ ̅
√

Example 2: Suppose the data given below indicates time in minute required for a laboratory
experiment to compute a certain laboratory test. Calculate the mean, variance and standard
deviation for the following data.
32 36 40 44 48 Total
2 5 8 4 1 20
64 180 320 176 48 788
2048 6480 12800 7744 2304 31376

∑ ∑ ̅
̅ √

Properties of Variance
1. The variance is always non-negative ( ).
2. If every element of the data is multiplied by a constant "c", then the new variance

3. When a constant is added to all elements of the data, then the variance does not change.
4. The variance of a constant (c) measured in n times is zero. i.e. (var(c) = 0).

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Exercise: Verify the above properties.

Uses of the Variance and Standard Deviation
1. They can be used to determine the spread of the data. If the variance or S.D is large, then
the data are more dispersed.
2. They are used to measure the consistency of a variable.
3. They are used quit often in inferential statistics.
5. Coefficient of Variation (C.V)
Whenever the two groups have the same units of measurement, the variance and S.D for each
can be compared directly. A statistics that allows one to compare two groups when the units of
measurement are different is called coefficient of variation. It is computed by:

Example: The following data refers to the hemoglobin level for 5 males and 5 female students.
In which case , the hemoglobin level has high variability (less consistency).

For males (xi) 13 13.8 14.6 15.6 17

For females (xi) 12 12.5 13.8 14.6 15.6

Solution: ̅ ̅

∑ ̅
√

∑ ̅
√

Therefore, the variability in hemoglobin level is higher for females than for males.

6. Standard Scores (Z-Scores)

 It is used for describing the relative position of a single score in the entire set of data in
terms of the mean and standard deviation.
 It is used to compare two observations coming from different groups.

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 If X is a measurement (an observation) from a distribution with mean ̅ and

standard deviation S, then its value in standard units is


Z gives the number of standard deviation a particular observation lie above
or below the mean.
 A positive Z-score indicates that the observation is above the mean.
 A negative Z-score indicates that the observation is below the mean.
Example: Two sections were given an examination on a certain course. For section 1, the
average mark (score) was 72 with standard deviation of 6 and for section 2, the average mark
(score) was 85 with standard deviation of 7. If student A from section 1 scored 84 and student B
from section 2 scored 90, then who perform a better relative to the group?
̅
Solution:
̅

Since ZA ZB i.e. 2 > 0.71, student A performed better relative to his group than student B.
Therefore, student A has performed better relative to his group because the score's of student A
is two standard deviation above the mean score of section 1 while the score of student B is only
0.71 standard deviation above the mean score of students in section 2.
Combined (Pooled) Variance and Corrected Variance
If ̅ ̅ , and variances
then the variance of the combined sets of size is given by:
̅ ̅ ̅ ̅

̅ ̅
̅

Corrected Variance

̅ ̅

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