MEASURES OF VARIABILITY
RANGE, VARIANCE AND STANDARD DEVIATION
VARIABILITY
Refers to extent to which the scores on a quantitative variable in a
distribution are spread out.
Table 1: Score of Two Groups of Pupils
Group A Group B
Pupil Score Grade Pupil Score Grade
Alex 100 A Joy 84 C+
Ben 90 B Helen 83 C+
Candy 80 C+ Lyn 80 C+
Doris 75 C Noel 78 C
Ellen 55 F May 75 C
Solution:
Group A Group B
Σx=400 Σx=400
N=5 N=5
X=400/5 X=400/5
Md=80 Md=80
THE RANGE (R)
The range is the simplest measure of dispersion.
Range = highest score – lowest score
THE QUARTILE DEVIATION
Its measurement is taken by getting one-half of the difference between Q3
and Q1 .
INTERQUARTILE RANGE
Is the difference between P75 and P25 .
Table 2:Score Distribution of the First Year BSED in ZCSPC
Score Number of Students Percentage
89-95 8 4.00
82-88 16 8.00
75-81 22 11.00
68-74 29 14.50
61-67 44 22.00
54-60 32 16.00
47-53 23 11.50
40-46 19 9.50
33-39 7 3.50
Total 200 100.00
Solution:
P25 = Q1 = 53.72 P75 = Q3 = 73.53
Interquartile Range = P75 - P25
= 73.53 – 53.72
= 18.81
Quartile Deviation = ½ (Q3 - Q1 )
= ½ ( 18.81)
= 9.405
THE MEAN ABSOLUTE DEVIATION
The mean absolute deviation considers the variation of the individual
scores in a distribution.
This measurement is equal to the summation of the of the absolute value
of the difference between each score and the mean divided by the number of
scores.
Table 3 :Gross Sales (in 100-thousands) Made by Four Medical Representatives
During the First Six Months of 2018
Mean
Medical
Jan. Feb. March April May June Mean Absolute
Representative
Deviation
Reyner 6 5 9 2 8 3 5.50 2.160
Ricky 4 5 4 4 4 5 4.33 0.443
Riane 3 8 6 2 9 2 5.00 2.670
R-jean 7 3 6 9 2 5 5.33 2.000
Sample Calculation of Mean Absolute Deviation
Med. Rep. Reyner X- X |X–X|
6 6 – 5.5 0.5
5 5 – 5.5 0.5
9 9 – 5.5 3.5
2 2 – 5.5 3.5
8 8 – 5.5 2.5
2.5
3 3 – 5.5
13.0
Mean Absolute deviation
Σ |x – x |
MAD =
N
= 13.0
6
= 2.167
THE VARIANCE (UNGROUPED DATA)
The variance is a measure of variability that considers the position of each
observation relative to the of the set of scores.
It is derived by getting the sum of the squared deviations from the mean
and divided by N.
The Formulas for Ungrouped Data
a. Population Variance (Ơ2 ) = Σ ( x – μ)2
N
where:
x= score
μ= population mean
N= population size
b. Sample Variance (S2 ) = Σ ( x – x)2
n- 1
where:
x= score
x= sample mean
n= sample size
THE STANDARD DEVIATION (UNGROUPED DATA)
Its is computed by extracting the square root of the variance.
Formulas for the Standard Deviation (Ungrouped Data)
a. Population Variance (Ơ ) =√ Σ ( x – μ)2
N
b. Sample Variance (S ) = √Σ ( x – x)2
n- 1
Example
A student was investigating the effect of synthetic fertilizer on the growth
of peanut seedlings, a random sample of those seedlings yielded the following
heights in inches. Find the mean, variance and standard deviation.
Mean = 48/8 Variance = 66/7
x=6 s2 = 9.43
Standard Deviation = √ 9.43
s = 3.07
Table 4 Height of the Peanut Seedling (in inches)
x x- X (x- X)2
2 2 – 6 = -4 16
3 3 – 6 = -3 9
4 4 – 6 = -2 4
5 5 – 6 = -1 1
6 6–6=0 0
8 8–6=2 4
10 10 – 6 = 4 16
10 10 – 6 = 4 16
Σx = 48 Σ(x- X)2 = 66
STANDARD DEVIATION AND VARIANCE (GROUPED DATA)
Formulas:
Sample Variance
S2 = Σfm2 _ (Σfm)2
n-1 n(n-1)
Where:
f = corresponding frequency
m = class mark or midpoint of each class interval
n = sample size
Population Variance
ơ2 = Σfm2 _ (Σfm)2
n-1 n(n-1)
Where:
f = corresponding frequency
m = class mark or midpoint of each class interval
n = sample size
Sample Standard Deviation
S = Σfm2 _ (Σfm)2
n-1 n(n-1)
Population Standard Deviation
ơ = Σfm2 _ (Σfm)2
n-1 n(n-1)
Table5
Computation of the Mean and Standard Deviation of the Ages of the Manager-
Respondents
12 Numbers of Midpoint fm fm2
Managers (f) (m)
53-57 9 55 495 27,225
48-52 27 50 1,350 67,500
43-47 30 45 1,350 60,750
38-42 35 40 1,400 56,000
33-37 29 35 1,015 35,525
28-32 15 30 450 13,500
23-27 5 25 125 3,125
N= 150 Σfm=6,185 Σfm2 =263,625
Mean = 6,185/150 Standard Deviation
μ = 41.23 = 263,625 _ (41.23)2
150
= √57.587
ơ = 7.589
SKEWNESS
refers to the symmetry or asymmetry of the frequency distribution.
Positively Skewed
If its tail extends farther to the right of the mode than it does to the left.
30
20
10
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Negative Skewed
If its tail extends to the left of the mode than it does to the right.
25
20
15
10
5
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Pearsonian Coefficient of Skewness
Formula:
Sk = 3(mean – median)
Standard Deviation
Wherein a perfectly symmetrical distribution the value of Sk is 0, and in general,
its value must fall between -3 and 3.
Sk value greater than 0 indicates that the symmetry polygon is
skewed to the right. While an Sk value that is less than 0 indicates
that the frequency polygon is skewed to the left.
KURTOSIS
Refers to the flatness or peakedness of one distribution in relation to
another.
Types of Kurtosis
1.Curve series1 = leptokurtic; K > 3
2.Curve series 2 = Mesokurtic; K = 3
3.Curve series 3 = Platykurtic; K < 3
Kurtosis formula for Ungrouped Data
K = Σ(x – X)2
n s4
where:
x = score
X = sample mean
n = sample size
s = standard deviation
Kurtosis Formula for Grouped Data
K = Σf(x – X)2
n s4
where:
f = corresponding frequency
x = class mark
X = sample mean
n = sample size
s = sample standard deviation
Example 5
Using the data below, solve for the skewness of the distributions
Data Group A Group B
Mean 72.12 67.10
Median 70.10 65.25
Standard Deviation 15.25 10.12
Solving for the skewness of the data:
Group A Group B
Sk = 3(72.12 – 70.10) Sk = 3(67.25 – 65.25)
15.25 15.25
Sk = 0.397 Sk = 0.548
The skewness value of group A is 0.397 while for group B is 0.548. Both
data show positive skewness, which means that both groups have low scores.
However, group A has lower skewness value than what the control group
received. This implies that the scores of group A are more dispersed than that of
group B.
Illustrative example of the computation of kurtosis
Frequency Midpoint
Score (x – X) (x – X) 4 f (X - (x – X) 4
(f) (x)
46-50 8 48 18.26 111,173.96 889,391.68
32-45 10 38.5 8.76 5,888.66 58,886.60
25-31 16 28 -1.74 9.17 146.72
11-24 12 17.5 -12.24 22,445.31 269,343.72
0-10 4 5 -24.74 374,626.75 1,498,507.00
n= 50 Σf (X - (x – X) 4 = 2,716,275.72
Mean = 29.74 SD = 13.00
kurtosis = 3,200,472.7
50 (13) 4
= 3,200472.7
50 (28,561)
= 2.24 (platykurtic)
