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Outline

Malayo man, Malapit din

Measures of Variability

1. The range and interquartile range 2. Standard deviation and variance for a population 3. Standard deviation and variance for a sample 4. More about variance and standard deviation

Psych 110 Day 5

What is variability?
Variability provides a quantitative measure of the degree to which scores in a distribution are spread out or clustered together.

1. THE RANGE AND INTERQUARTILE RANGE

The range
Range the distance from the largest score to the smallest score in a distribution. The difference between the upper real limit of the largest X value and the lower real limit of the smallest X value. Range = URL Xmax LRL Xmin

The range
Ex: 3, 7, 12, 8, 5, 10 Range = URL Xmax LRL Xmin Range = 12.5 2.5 = 10

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More on the range

Typically used with interval or ratio scale measurements of a continuous variable. May also be used for discrete variables provided they are measured on interval/ratio scale. Easiest way of describing variability. Completely determined by the two extreme scores A crude and unreliable measure of variability

The interquartile range

Interquartile range the range covered by the middle 50% of the distribution. Interquartile range = Q3 Q1 Ex: 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 Q1 = 4.5; Q3 = 10.5 Interquartile range = 10.5 4.5 = 6

The interquartile range

Semi-interquartile range half of the interquartile range Semi-interquartile range = Q3 Q1 2 Ex: 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 Q1 = 4.5; Q3 = 10.5 Interquartile range = 10.5 4.5 = 6 Semi-interquartile range = 6/2 = 3

More on the interquartile range

less likely to be influenced by extreme scores better & more stable measure of variability than range considers only middle 50% of the distribution; does not give complete picture of variability crude measure of variability

What is the standard deviation?

SD uses the mean of the distribution as a reference point and measures variability by considering the distance between each score and the mean.

2. STANDARD DEVIATION AND VARIANCE FOR A POPULATION

Are scores generally near or far from the mean?

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Computing for variance & SD of a population

STEP 1: Determine the deviation (distance from the mean) for each individual score. Deviation score = X Ex: If = 50, what is the deviation score of X=53? of X=45? X = 53 50 = 3 X = 45 50= -5

Computing for variance & SD of a population

STEP 2: Calculate the mean of the deviation scores. Ex: N=4; =3 X X 8 +5 1 -2 3 0 0 -3 0 =(X ) The deviation scores always add up to zero.

Computing for variance & SD of a population

STEP 3: Get rid of the signs of the deviation scores by squaring them, then get the mean squared deviation or the variance. Ex: N=4; =3 X X (X )2 8 +5 25 1 -2 4 3 0 0 0 -3 9 38 = (X )2 Population variance = 38/4 = 9.5

Computing for variance & SD of a population

STEP 4: Take the square root of the population variance to get the population standard deviation. Ex: N=4; =3 X X (X )2 8 +5 25 1 -2 4 3 0 0 0 -3 9 38 = (X )2 Population variance = 38/4 = 9.5 Population stand dev= 9.5 = 3.08

Two formulas for the sum of squared deviations (SS)

Definitional formula
SS = (X )2

Final formulas for variance & SD of a population

Population variance:

Conceptual formula
SS =

Population standard deviation:

If we use the conceptual formula, we only need one other column after X, and that is X2.

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Computing for variance & SD of a sample

STEP 1: Find the deviation for each score.
Deviation = X M

STEP 2: Square each deviation.

(X M )2

3. STANDARD DEVIATION AND VARIANCE FOR A SAMPLE

STEP 3: Add the squared deviations.

SS = (X M)2 (definitional formula) SS = (conceptual formula)

Final formulas for variance & SD of a sample

Sample variance:

Sample standard deviation:

Why do we need to subtract 1 from n?

4. MORE ABOUT VARIANCE AND STANDARD DEVIATION

Transformations of scale
1. Adding a constant to each score does not change the standard deviation. 2. Multiplying each score by a constant causes the standard deviation to be multiplied by the same constant.

Factors that affect variability

1. Extreme scores
Range is most affected, followed by variance & SD Semi-interquartile range is appropriate for skewed distributions

2. Sample size
Variance, SD, semi-interquartile range relatively unaffected by sample size

3. Stability under sampling

Variance & SD stable under sampling

4. Open-ended distributions
Only the semi-interquartile range is applicable