Chapter 5: Variability

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 Variability
• The goal for variability is to obtain a
measure of how spread out the scores are
in a distribution.
• A measure of variability usually
accompanies a measure of central
tendency as basic descriptive statistics for
a set of scores.

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 Central Tendency and Variability
• Central tendency describes the central
point of the distribution, and variability
describes how the scores are scattered
around that central point.
• Together, central tendency and variability
are the two primary values that are used to
describe a distribution of scores.

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 Variability
• Variability serves both as a descriptive measure
and as an important component of most
inferential statistics.
• As a descriptive statistic, variability measures
the degree to which the scores are spread out or
clustered together in a distribution.
• In the context of inferential statistics, variability
provides a measure of how accurately any
individual score or sample represents the entire
population.

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 Variability (cont.)
• When the population variability is small, all
of the scores are clustered close together
and any individual score or sample will
necessarily provide a good representation
of the entire set.
• On the other hand, when variability is large
and scores are widely spread, it is easy for
one or two extreme scores to give a
distorted picture of the general population.

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 Measuring Variability
• Variability can be measured with
– the range
– the interquartile range
– the standard deviation/variance.
• In each case, variability is determined by
measuring distance.

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 The Range
• The range is the total distance covered by
the distribution, from the highest score to
the lowest score (using the upper and
lower real limits of the range).

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 WHAT IS THE RANGE IN THE SET OF
SCORES BELOW?
• SET OF SCORES:
7, 2, 7, 6, 5, 6, 2

RANGE = HIGHEST SCORE MINUS

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 The Interquartile Range
• The interquartile range is the distance
covered by the middle 50% of the
distribution (the difference between Q1
and Q3).

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 Quartile Deviation
• Another measure of variability that divides the
difference of the third and first quartiles into halves
• The average distance from the median to the two
quartiles
• Tells how far the quartile points Q1 and Q3 lie
from the median or the average
• This measure is used when there are extremely
low and high observations especially when there
are big gaps between observations

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 Quartile Deviation
• QD = Q3 –Q1
2

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 Average Deviation
• Measure of absolute variability that is
affected by every individual observation.
• Mean of the absolute deviations of the
individual observations from the mean

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Average deviation

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 The Standard Deviation
• Standard deviation measures the
standard distance between a score and
the mean.
• The calculation of standard deviation can
be summarized as a four-step process:

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 STANDARD DEVIATION (S)
• Measure of variability used with the mean
(normally distributed interval or ratio data)
• Indicates the amount that all scores differ
or deviate from the mean
• The more the scores differ from the mean,
the higher the standard deviation (s)
• Sum of the deviations of scores from the
mean is always is 0

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 The Standard Deviation (cont.)
1. Compute the deviation (distance from the mean) for each
score.
2. Square each deviation.
3. Compute the mean of the squared deviations. For a
population, this involves summing the squared deviations
(sum of squares, SS) and then dividing by N. The resulting
value is called the variance or mean square and measures
the average squared distance from the mean.
For samples, variance is computed by dividing the sum
of the squared deviations (SS) by n - 1, rather than N.
The value, n - 1, is know as degrees of freedom (df)
and is used so that the sample variance will provide an
unbiased estimate of the population variance.
4. Finally, take the square root of the variance to obtain the
standard deviation.
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 Properties of the
Standard Deviation
• If a constant is added to every score in a
distribution, the standard deviation will not be
changed.
• If you visualize the scores in a frequency
distribution histogram, then adding a constant
will move each score so that the entire
distribution is shifted to a new location.
• The center of the distribution (the mean)
changes, but the standard deviation remains the
same.

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 Properties of the
Standard Deviation (cont.)
• If each score is multiplied by a constant,
the standard deviation will be multiplied by
the same constant.
• Multiplying by a constant will multiply the
distance between scores, and because the
standard deviation is a measure of
distance, it will also be multiplied.

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The Mean and Standard Deviation
as Descriptive Statistics
• If you are given numerical values for the
mean and the standard deviation, you
should be able to construct a visual image
(or a sketch) of the distribution of scores.
• As a general rule, about 70% of the scores
will be within one standard deviation of the
mean, and about 95% of the scores will be
within a distance of two standard
deviations of the mean.

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 DEFINITIONAL FORMULA FOR
STANDARD DEVIATION
• FORMULA 2.1 SHOULD BE
USED IF THE GROUP TESTED
IS VIEWED AS THE GROUP OF
INTEREST; CONSIDERED
THEN THE POPULATION (E.G.,
CALCULATING STANDARD
DEVIATION OF THE TEST
SCORES ON EXAM #1 IN THIS
CLASS)
• X = SCORES
• BAR X = MEAN OF SCORES
• N = NUMBER OF SCORES
 DEFINITIONAL FORMULA FOR
STANDARD DEVIATION
• Formula 2.2 should be used if the
group tested is viewed as a
represetative part of the
population; considered then a
sample
• Standard deviation calculated on
the sample is used as an estimate
of the population standard
deviation (e.G., Calculation of the
standard deviation of the percent
body fat of college runners that is
used as an estimation of the
standard deviation of all college
runners)
• X = scores
• Bar x = mean of scores
• N = number of scores
 SAMPLE CALCULATION OF THE STANDARD
DEVIATION USING FORMULA 2.1 AND 2.2 AND
THE FOLLOWING TESTS SCORES: 7, 2, 7, 6, 5, 6, 2
 CALCULATIONAL FORMULA FOR
STANDARD DEVIATION
• FORMULA 2.3 SHOULD BE
USED IF THE GROUP TESTED
IS VIEWED AS THE GROUP OF
INTEREST; CONSIDERED
THEN THE POPULATION (E.G.,
CALCULATING STANDARD
DEVIATION OF THE 50-M SWIM
TIMES AT A SWIM MEET )

• X = SCORES
• N = NUMBER OF SCORES
• FORMULA TYPICALLY USED
FOR HAND CALCULATION
 CALCULATIONAL FORMULA FOR
STANDARD DEVIATION
• FORMULA 2.4 SHOULD BE USED IF
THE GROUP TESTED IS VIEWED AS A
REPRESETATIVE PART OF THE
POPULATION; CONSIDERED THEN A
SAMPLE
• STANDARD DEVIATION CALCULATED
ON THE SAMPLE IS USED AS AN
ESTIMATE OF THE POPULATION
STANDARD DEVIATION (E.G.,
CALCULATION OF THE STANDARD
DEVIATION OF THE 40-YARD TIME OF
COLLEGE WIDE RECEIVERS THAT IS
USED AS AN ESTIMATION OF THE
STANDARD DEVIATION OF ALL
COLLEGE WIDE RECEIVERS)
• X = SCORES
• N = NUMBER OF SCORES
• FORUMULA TYPICALLY USED FOR
HAND CALCULATION
 SAMPLE CALCULATION OF THE STANDARD
DEVIATION USING FORMULA 2.3 AND 2.4 AND THE
FOLLOWING TESTS SCORES: 7, 2, 7, 6, 5, 6, 2
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