Measures of

Dispersion

Definitio
n
of
Dispersi
on
A descriptive statistic that summarizes the degree to
which scores differ from one another in a distribution
of scores.
The concept of dispersion can be approached only in a
general sense at the ordinal level of measurement.
Since there is no consistent amount of difference
between points on an ordinal scale, the only measure of
dispersion at this level is the relative number of
observations at each level.

Once we are dealing with the interval level of

measurement we can refer to the actual amount by
which scores in a distribution differ from one another.

Types of
Measures

The Range
Interquartile Range
Variance
Standard Deviation

ofDispersi
on

The Range
Assesses the scalular distance
between the smallest and largest
value in the distribution of scores.
Formula:
XL - XS
Sensitive to extreme outliers

Interquartile Range
Assesses the scalular distance
between the scores at the 75th
and 25 percentile ranks

Interquartile Range
Assesses the scalular distance
between the scores at the 75th
and 25 percentile ranks.

Formula:

IR = (Q 3 Q1)

Reduces the effect of outliers when

measuring
dispersion.

Varian
ce
2
(s
)
Definition: the average of the
squared deviations about the
mean.

Varian
ce
(s2
)
The variance, as a measure of
dispersion,
attempts to take advantage of the
property of the
mean as the midpoint of the magnitude
of values
above and below it. The definition of
the mean

(the value for which the sum of the

deviations
about it sum to zero) forms the basis for
the
computations of the variance.
Definition: the average of the squared
deviations about the mean.
Formula:

Varian
ce
2
(s
)
Definition: the average of the
squared deviations about the
mean.
Formula:

(X X)

Sum of Squares
The numerator of the equation for
the variance is often referred to as
the sum of squared deviations
or sum of squares (or sum of
squares, in brief.

Sum of Squares
The numerator of the equation
for the variance is often referred
to as the sum of squared
deviations or sum of squares:

SS=

(
X

X)

Meaning of the
variance
The variance averages the effects of
large and small deviations from
the mean. We can use this to
characterize the size of the typical
squared deviation from the mean.

Standard Deviation
Definition: mathematically it is the
square root of the variance.
The transformation of the variance to
the standard deviation converts the
variance to a score that is represented in
the same units as the original variable.
Conceptually, the standard deviation
approximates how much the typical
score in a distribution deviates from the
mean of that distribution.

Formula for
the
Standard
Deviation

(X
2

s=

X)

Computational
Formula:
Varian
ce

( )

X
N

s =

Computational
Formula:
Standard
Deviation

X
s =

( X )

Example
Consider the following set of data:
10
20
30
40
50
Determine the variance for this
distribution
using the definitional formula:

Example
10

20

30

40

50

(X X)

=
N

Examp
le
10

20

30

40

50

2
2
2
2
2
2 (10 30) + (20 30) + (30 30) + (40 30) + (50 30)
s =
5

Exampl
e:

2 + ( 10)2 + (0)2 + (10)2 + (20)2

(
20)
2
s =
5

Exampl
e:

400 + 100 + 0 + 100 +

2
s =
400
5

Exampl
e:

2 1,000
s =
5

Example:

s
=

200

s =

s =

200

s = 14.14

Exampl
e:
Computational
Formula

X
s =

( X )

X
2
X
10
20
30
40
50
15
0

10
0
40
0
90
0
160
0
250
0
550
0

150

5500

s =

5
5

X
2
X
10
20
30
40
50
15
0

10
0
40
0
90
0
160
0
250
0
550
0

5500 22500 /
5
s =
5

X
2
X
10
20
30
40
50
15
0

10
0
40
0
90
0
160
0
250
0
550
0

5500 4500
s =
5

X
10
20
30
40
50
15
0

X2
10
0
40
0
90
0
160
0
250
0
550
0

s = 1000 / 5

X
10
20
30
40
50
15
0

X2
10
0
40
0
90
0
160
0
250
0
550
0

s = 200

X
10
20
30
40
50
15
0

X2
10
0
40
0
90
0
160
0
250
0
550
0

s = 200
s = 14.14

Example: Computing S2 &

S
X
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5

f
1
1
1
2
1
4
2
2
3
5
2
1
2
1
1
1

X
400
361
324
289
256
225
196
169
144
121
100
81
64
49
36
25

f(X)
20
19
18
34
16
60
28
26
36
55
20
9
16
7
6
5

f(X)
400
361
324
578
256
900
392
338
432
605
200
81
128
49
36
25

N = f =30

fX = 375

f(x) = 5105

(X) = 140,625

Example: Computing S2
&S

( )

NX

s =

Example: Computing S2
&S
2 (X)
X
2
N
s =
N
2

s =

5105

140,625

30

30

Example: Computing S2
&S
(X)
2
X
2
N
s =
N
2

s =
2

s =

5105

140,625
30

30
5105 4687.5
30

Example: Computing S2
&S

X
2
2

s =
2

s =

s =

=( X

N
140,625

417.5

30

510
30
5
5105 4687.5
30
30

Example: Computing S2
&S

s =
2

s =

s =

( X )2

N
140,625

417.5

30
= 13.92

510
30
5
5105 4687.5
30
30

Example: Computing S2 &

S

s =

s =

5105

2
s =

( X )2
N

N
140,625

s
s

417.5

30
= 13.92
2

30

30
5105 4687.5

3s =
0

Example: Computing S2 &

S

s =
2

s =

s =

( X )2

N
140,625

417.5

30
= 13.92

5105

30
30
5105 4687.5

3s =
0

s=
13.92
s = 3.73