MEASURES OF

DISPERSION
MODULE 20
 What is Measures of
Dispersion?
Measures of dispersion,
also known as measures of
variability, are statistical
tools used to quantify the
spread or variability in a
dataset.
 Standard Deviation
Is the most widely used measure
of variability and is considered
as the most accurate to
represent the deviations of
individual scores from the mean
values in the distribution.
Assume that the elements in a
data set are rank ordered from
the smallest to the largest. The
values that divide a rank-
ordered set of elements into
100 equal parts are called
percentiles.
 Quartiles
Divide a rank-ordered data set
into four equal parts. The
values that divide each part
are called the first, second,
and third quartiles; and they
are denoted by Q1, Q2, and Q3
respectively.
 Standard score
A standard score (aka, a z-score)
indicates how many standard
deviations an element is from the
mean. A standard score can be
calculated from the following
formula.
 Z-score formula:
( 𝑋 − 𝜇)
𝑧=
𝜎
Where z is the z-score, X is the value of the element, μ is mean of the
population, and σ is the standard deviation. Here is how to interpret z-
scores.
1. A z-score less than 0 represents an element less than the mean.
2. A z-scores greater than 0 represents an element greater than the
mean.
3. A z-score equal to 0 represents an element equal to the mean.
4. A z-score equal to 1 represents an element that is 1 standard
deviation greater than the mean; a z-score equal to 2, 2 standard deviations
greater than the mean; etc.
5. A z-score equal to -1 represents an element that is 1 standard
deviation less than the mean; a z-score equal to -2 , 2 standard deviations
less than the mean; etc.
As you see the computation of z-
computation, it can give you a negative
number, which means the score below the
mean. However, communicating negative z-
score as below the mean may not be
understandable to others. Your option is to
covert the z-score into a T-score
transformed standard score. To do this,
there is a scaling in which a mean of 0 in a
z-score is multiplied by 10. The equation:
 Stanine Scores
are shortened from standard
nine. With nine in its name, the
scores are on a nine-point scale.
In a z-score distribution, the
mean score is 0, and the
standard deviation is 1.
Like the T- score, stanine
score can be calculated
from the z-score by
multiplying the z-score by
2 and adding 5.