Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 22 views

    Measures of Dispersion: Range

    Uploaded by

    Jennelie jandusay
    This document defines and compares four measures of dispersion: range, mean deviation, standard deviation, and variance. The range is the difference between the highest and lowest values. The mean deviation is the mean of the absolute deviations from the mean. The standard deviation is the square root of the mean of the squared deviations from the mean. The variance is the square of the standard deviation and measures how far data points are from the mean. The standard deviation is considered the most important measure of dispersion as it is affected by the value of each observation and is the most stable and reliable for statistical analysis.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Measures of Dispersion: Range

    Uploaded by

    Jennelie jandusay
    22 views4 pages
    This document defines and compares four measures of dispersion: range, mean deviation, standard deviation, and variance. The range is the difference between the highest and lowest values. The mean deviation is the mean of the absolute deviations from the mean. The standard deviation is the square root of the mean of the squared deviations from the mean. The variance is the square of the standard deviation and measures how far data points are from the mean. The standard deviation is considered the most important measure of dispersion as it is affected by the value of each observation and is the most stable and reliable for statistical analysis.

    Original Description:

    mkn

    Original Title

    na

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document defines and compares four measures of dispersion: range, mean deviation, standard deviation, and variance. The range is the difference between the highest and lowest values. The mean deviation is the mean of the absolute deviations from the mean. The standard deviation is the square root of the mean of the squared deviations from the mean. The variance is the square of the standard deviation and measures how far data points are from the mean. The standard deviation is considered the most important measure of dispersion as it is affected by the value of each observation and is the most stable and reliable for statistical analysis.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    22 views4 pages

    Measures of Dispersion: Range

    Uploaded by

    Jennelie jandusay
    This document defines and compares four measures of dispersion: range, mean deviation, standard deviation, and variance. The range is the difference between the highest and lowest values. The mean deviation is the mean of the absolute deviations from the mean. The standard deviation is the square root of the mean of the squared deviations from the mean. The variance is the square of the standard deviation and measures how far data points are from the mean. The standard deviation is considered the most important measure of dispersion as it is affected by the value of each observation and is the most stable and reliable for statistical analysis.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 4

    MEASURES OF DISPERSION

    The measures of dispersion or variability namely: range, mean deviation,


    standard deviation and variance are another type of measure that will help us know
    more about the data of a certain group.

    The measure of dispersion describe how far apart the observations are. They
    identify whether the group of data is homogeneous or heterogeneous.

    A measure of dispersion indicates the degree of spread or


    variability of a given set of data.

    RANGE

    The range is the difference between the highest and the lowest
    values in a set of observations.

    It is a measure of the full distance along the number scale over which the values
    vary. If H represents the highest value and L the lowest value, then the range R is

    R=H–L

    There are two types of range which depend on whether the data are discrete or
    continuous.

    If the data are discrete (counting numbers), then the range is the inclusive range
    Ri.

    The inclusive range Ri is the difference between the highest value


    H and the lowest value L, and is used for discrete data.

    Ri = H – L

    Examples of this type of data are scores in a test and the number of students.

    If the data is continuous (with decimals), the exclusive range Re is used,

    The exclusive range Re is the difference between the upper limit of


    the highest observation Hu and the lower limit of the lowest observation Ll,
    and is used with continuous data.

    Re = Hu – Ll
    Height and weight measurements of students are examples of this type of data.
    Re is also used in getting the range of a frequency distribution.

    The range, as a measure of dispersion, does not provide any information on the
    individual observations. It only gives information on the two extreme values. This is its
    main limitation. It does not give an accurate picture of the variability of the distribution.

    In addition, since the value of the range is dependent on the values of the two
    extreme cases only, it is highly unstable measure. The addition or deletion of a single
    extreme case may greatly change its value.

    MEAN DEVIATION

    The Mean Deviation (MD) is the mean of the absolute deviations


    from the arithmetic mean.

    ∑ │xi - x̅│
    i=1
    MD = -------------
    n

    Where xi = variable data


    x̅ = arithmetic mean
    = absolute value taking the positive value of the given deviations
    n = number of observations

    The mean deviation is used in determining the extent of the differences or


    variabilities among the members of a group. It is also an indicator of how compact the
    group is on a certain measure.

    As a measure of dispersion, the mean deviation is not widely used. Most


    statisticians are not satisfied with using absolute values.

    STANDARD DEVIATION
    The standard deviation s is the square root of the mean of the
    squared deviations from the mean of a distribution. That is,

    ∑ (xi - x̅ ) 2
    i=1
    s = ---------------

    √ n -1

    Where
    xi = variable data
    x̅ = mean of the set of data

    n = number of observations

    The standard deviation is the most important measure of dispersion. It is affected


    by the value of each observation. It is the most stable and is therefore, the most reliable
    measure of variability. In fact the standard deviation together the variance is the only
    measure of variability and used for statistical interferences like those involving
    coefficients of correlation and standard scores.

    VARIANCE

    n the standard deviation. That is


    The variance s2 is the square of

    ∑ (xi - x̅ ) 2
    i=1
    s =
    2
    ---------------
    n -1
    Above, is the definitional formula for the variance. The computational formula can
    be derived from the definitional formula in which the value of the mean is not necessary.

    n n

    n ∑ (xi ) 2
    - (∑ xi ) 2

    i=1 i=1

    s2 = --------------------------------
    n (n – 1)

    You might also like