Measure of

Dispersion
Abacco, Dan Frederico P.
Malabag, Nathaniel N.
Santos, Alfredo Jr A.
Measure of Dispersion
Dispersion in statistics is a way of
describing how spread out a set of data is.
When a data set has a large value, the
values in the set are widely scattered;
when it is small the items in the set are
tightly clustered.
The degree to which numerical data tend
to spread about an average value is
called variation or dispersion of the data.
Measure of Dispersion
In real problems it is very rare that all observations have
the same values as that of its central tendency.
For example, two cricketer with same 65 average score
per year considered for a span of 8 years, one with
scores close to average value in all years while the other
with very high score in some year and very poor in most
of year, it cannot be rated at same level. Former is more
reliable batsman. Similarly, only average annual income
of a country measured as Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
does not mean each citizen has this income or income
near to it or merely by increasing GDP all citizens can be
equally developed.
Range
The simplest measure of dispersion. The difference
between the largest and smallest values in a set of
data.
The Range tells you how much is in between the
lowest value and highest value.
Being a positional measure it accounts only the
difference between the highest and the lowest
observation in any data series and does not take
into account all individual observations and so it is
quickest but at the same time a rough or crude
measure of dispersion.
Example
You take 7 statistics tests over the course of a
semester. You score 94, 88, 73, 84, 91, 87, and 79.
What is the range of your scores?
Solution:
73, 79, 84, 87, 88, 91, 94.

Subtract the smallest number from the highest =

94 73 = 21.

Range = 21.
Interquartile Range
The interquartile range (Midspread) is a measure
of where the middle fifty is in a data set. The
interquartile range formula is the first quartile
subtracted from the third quartile: 3 1
Example
The number of complaints received by the manager of a
supermarket was recorded for each of the last 11 working days
before Christmas. They were
25, 18, 22, 16, 19, 6, 20, 15, 26, 41, 28
Calculate the interquartile range
Solution:
6, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 28, 41

11+1
Lower quartile: =3
4
3rd observation = 16
11+1 3
Upper quartile: =9
4
9th observation = 26

IQR:3 1 = 26 16
IQR = 10
Quartile Deviation

Quartile deviation is another positional and

absolute measure of data dispersion in any
series which try to minimize the error of range as
a measure of dispersion.
Unlike range it avoids the use of extreme values
and in it its place uses the difference of first and
third quartile as a measure of dispersion
It is also called semiinterquartile range or
semiquartile range.
Thus, this measure of dispersion ignores fifty per
cent (first 25 per cent and last 25 per cent) of
observations.
Symbolically it is estimated using following
formula, Quartile Deviation (QD) = (Q3 Q1)/2
Where, Q3 = third quartile Q1 = first quartile.
Further in any symmetrical or nonskewed or
normal data distribution median (Q ) plus/minus
QD exactly covers 50 per cent of the data
distribution on either side of the median since in
such case Q3 Q2 = Q2 Q1 or Q2 + QD = Q3
and Q2 QD = Q1
 In reality, rarely a business, economic or social data are
perfectly symmetrical. So quartile deviation as a
measure of dispersion should be preferably used only
where data distribution are moderately skewed.
A lower/higher value of quartile deviation in less skewed
d data reflects that more/less distributions are around
the median value.
A relative counterpart of quartile deviation is called
coefficient of quartile deviation and it is represented by
of Distance Education (DDE) P coefficient of quartile
deviation and it is represented by following formula,
Coefficient of QD= (Q3- Q1 )/ (Q3+ Q1 )
Example

Following are the runs scored by a batsman in last 20 test

matches: 96, 70, 100, 96, 81, 84, 90, 89, 63, 90, 34, 75, 39,
82, 85, 86, 76, 64, 67, and 88. Calculate the Quartile
Deviation and Coefficient of Quartile Deviation.
 Arrange data in ascending order:
34, 39, 63, 64, 67, 70, 75, 76, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90,
90, 96, 96, 100
Mean Deviation
A proper approach to the measurement of dispersion or
variability would require that all the values in a series are
taken into consideration. One of the methods of doing it
is through average deviation or mean deviation.
As the very name indicates, this measure is an average
or the mean of the deviations of the values from a fixed
point which is usually the arithmetic mean and
sometimes the median.
Mean deviations are computed first by summing the
absolute differences of each observation from mean
and then dividing it by number of observations. The sign
of deviations are ignored i.e. only absolute values are
used, since sum of deviations from mean is always zero.
 Following mathematical formula is used to estimate mean deviation of a
data series,
 A student took 5 exams in a class and had scores of 93, 65, 85, 90,
and 78. Find the mean deviation for her test scores ?
Solution:
 Now lets subtract the mean from each score, take the absolute
value of each difference, total the absolute values and then divide
by the number of values.
Standard Deviation
The standard deviation is a measure of how
spread out a data is around the center of the
distribution. It is used to measure spread or
dispersion around the mean of the data set.
2 ( )2 2
S= =
(1) 1

x class mark/midpoint
f-frequency
n-total frequency

This method of measuring dispersion is most widely
acclaimed by statisticians since it nearly have all
properties of a good measure of dispersion.
This method is not based on absolute value of deviation
of individual data from the mean so it has been
overcome by squaring the individual deviation from
mean.
These squared individual deviations are summed up,
then averaged and finally its square root has been
identified as a measure of standard deviation.
This is why it is also known as root mean square deviation.
Example
Given the frequency distribution in the Table determine the sample
standard deviation.
Time Required to Process Mall Orders
Time in minutes Number of orders
5 and under 8 10
8 and under 11 17
11 and under 14 12
14 and under 17 6
17 and under 20 2
 Solution:
Time in Class Mark
2
minutes f (x) fx 2

5 and
10 6.5 65 42.25 422.5
under 8

8 and
17 9.5 161.5 90.25 1534.25
under 11

11 and
12 12.5 150 156.52 1875
under 14

14 and
6 15.5 93 240.25 1441.5
under 17

17 and
2 18.5 37 342.25 684.5
under 20

47
Total: 506.5 5957.75
 2 ( )2
S =
(1)

47 5957.75 (506.5)2
S=
47(46)

S= 10.8566
S=3.29
Example
An analyst wants to determine the stability of price of
a particular stock. His decision is based on the stability
of the standard deviation of the stocks daily closing
price. He tries to simplify his computations by selecting
a sample of n=8 days with closing prices of Php 6090,
Php8400, Php3780, Php6440, Php5110, Php5600,
Php4410, Php7780

Solution:

Mean =

47610
= = 5951.25
8
 x

6090 138.75 19251.56

8400 2448.75 5996376.56
3780 -2171.25 4714326.56
6440 488.75 238876.56
5110 -841.25 707701.56
5600 -351.25 123376.56
4410 -1541.25 2375451.56
7780 1828.75 3344326.56
Total 47610 17,519,687.48

2
S =
(1)

17519687.48
S=
7

S=1582.03