Measures of Dispersion

Range & Quartiles

 Describing Distributions with Numbers

Measures of central tendency: median, mean, mode.

Measures of spread/dispersion: range, quartiles, standard deviation

Data must be ordered and positioned for: Median, quartiles, five-

number summary, boxplots

A boxplot illustrates the five number summary.

 Range
• The difference between the highest and the
lowest values
• Outliers are included

3 4 4 5 5 5 10

• Can be expressed as interval (i.e. 3-10) or as

an interval width (i.e. 7)
 Quartiles
• Each of four equal groups into which your data is
organized

--------- Q1 --------- Q2 --------- Q3 ---------

• Outliers are included
• Another term for Q2 = median
• Q1 = first quartile
• Q3 = third quartile
 Quartiles – An Example
Data set: 6, 47, 49, 15, 43, 41, 7, 39, 43, 41, 36

Step 1- organize your data:

6, 7, 15, 36, 39, 41, 41, 43, 43, 47, 49

Step 2- find the median:

6, 7, 15, 36, 39, 41, 41, 43, 43, 47, 49

Step 3- find Q1 & Q3

6, 7, 15, 36, 39, 41, 41, 43, 43, 47, 49
 Interquartile Range
• Interquartile range = Q3-Q1
• 50% of the data set
• Outliers are thus eliminated

--------- Q1 --------- Q2 --------- Q3 ---------

 Interquartile Range - Example

• Example: Your teacher asks you to keep a record of the

number of goals you’ve scored each month during your
soccer games. Here is your data for the past 12 months:

34, 47, 1, 15, 57, 24, 20, 11, 19, 50, 28, 37

Always start by putting your data in ascending order:

1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
Interquartile Range - Example

1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
n= 12 (even)
12+first / 2 = 6.5
SO: 6th & 7th value
1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
Find the mean of 24 & 28  26

THE MEAN IS 26
Interquartile Range - Example

1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
Range: Biggest – Smallest #
57 – 1 = 56
When N = even...
Interquartile Range - Example

1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
LOWER QUARTILE:
Value of the middle of the FIRST half
i.e. the MEDIAN of
1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
15+19 / 2 = 17
Q1 = 17
Interquartile Range - Example

1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
UPPER QUARTILE:
Value of the middle of the SECOND half
i.e. the MEDIAN of
1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
37+47 / 2 = 42

Q3 = 42
Interquartile Range - Example

1, 11, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 37, 47, 50, 57
Q3 – Q1 = INTERQUARTILE RANGE
42 – 17 = 25
 Boxplot (Box-&-Whisker Plot)

• Presentation of the five-number summary

• Shows whether data is skewed, has outliers etc.
• Shows: (1) the shape of the distribution, (2) its
central value, (3) its variation
 Boxplot (Box-&-Whisker Plot)
• Example: Christopher’s coach asked him to
keep a record of the number of goals he has
scored each month. Here is his data for the
past 12 months:

51, 17, 25, 39, 7, 49, 62, 41, 20, 6, 43, 13

The Five-Number Summary:

Low value lower quartile median upper quartile high value
 Boxplot - Example
• Step 1: Order your data set. Find the Median.

6, 7, 13, 17, 20, 25, 39, 41, 43, 49, 51, 62.
Median = (12th + 1st) ÷ 2 = 6.5th value
= (sixth + seventh observations) ÷ 2
= (25 + 39) ÷ 2
= 32
 Boxplot - Example
• Find Q1
There are six numbers below the median,
namely: 6, 7, 13, 17, 20, 25.
Q1 = the median of these six items
= (6 + 1 ) ÷ 2= 3.5th value
= (third + fourth observations) ÷ 2
= (13 + 17) ÷ 2
= 15
 Boxplot - Example
• Find Q3
• Here are six numbers above the median,
namely: 39, 41, 43, 49, 51, 62.
Q3 = the median of these six items
= (6 + 1) ÷ 2= 3.5th value
= (third + fourth observations) ÷ 2
= 46
• The five-number summary is: 6-15-32-46-62
 Boxplot (Box-&-Whisker Plot)
Christopher’s soccer nemesis, Anthony, is also
asked by his coach to keep a record of the
number of goals he has scored each month.
Here is Five-Number Summary:
(Low value lower quartile median upper quartile
high value)
2 17
27 42 58
 Boxplot - Example
Anthony

Christopher’s highest and lowest values are both higher

Christopher than Anthony’s. Christopher’s median is higher.

These results suggest that Christopher consistently scores more goals than Anthony does.
Symmetrical and Skewed Boxplots