Statistics
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Janelli CalderonStatistics
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Janelli CalderonMeasures of Variation
Measures of variation in statistics are ways to describe the distribution or dispersion of
data. It shows how far apart data points are from one another. Statisticians use
measures of variation to summarize their data. You can draw many conclusions by
using measures of variation, such as high and low variability. High variability can mean
that the data is less consistent while low variability data is more consistent.
There are four frequently used measures of variation:
○ The Range
○ Interquartile Range
○ Semi-Interquartile Range or Quartile Deviation
○ Mean Deviation or Average Deviation
○ Variance
○ The Standard Deviation
The Range
The most basic measure of variation is the range, which is the distance from the
smallest to the largest value in a distribution.
Range = Largest value - Smallest Value
Interquartile Range
Interquartile range (IQR) refers to the middle of your data distribution or the middle of
your four quartiles, meaning that the IQR is in the middle of the upper and lower
quartiles. To find the IQR, you need to know the values of Q1 and Q3. To do this, you
simply find the median of the Q1 and Q3 quartiles. Once you do that, you can calculate
the IQR with this equation:
IQR = Q3 - Q1
For example, if the median of your Q3 was 10 and the median of your Q1 was 6, your
IQR would be 4, as shown by the following:
IQR = 10 - 6
IQR = 4
Semi-Interquartile Range or Quartile Deviation
Semi-interquartile range, also known as the quartile deviation, is a measure of statistical
dispersion. It is defined as half of the interquartile range. It is computed as one half the
difference between the 75th percentile (Q3) and the 25th percentile (Q1). The Formula
for Semi-Interquartile Range is:
Semi Interquartile Range = (Q3 - Q1) / 2
Mean Deviation or Average Deviation
Mean deviation is used to compute how far the values in a data set are from the center
point. The difference between the observed value of a data point and the expected
value is known as deviation in statistics. Thus, mean deviation or mean absolute
deviation is the average deviation of a data point from the mean, median, or mode of
the data set. Mean deviation can be abbreviated as MAD. Here is an example of this
calculation:
Suppose we have a set of observations given by {2, 7, 5, 10} .
We find the mean of the data given by 6. Then we subtract the mean from each value,
take the absolute value of each result and add them up to get 10. Finally, we divide this
value by the total number of observations (4) to get the mean deviation as 2.5.
Variance
Variance is the average squared variations of values from the mean. It compares every
piece of value to the mean. Variance also displays the spread of the data set. Typically,
the more spread out your data is, the larger the variance. To calculate the variance,
simply square your standard deviation. Here is an example of this calculation, where "S"
stands for standard deviation:
S=8
S2= 8 × 8 = 64
If your standard deviation is 8, then your variance would be 64.
The Standard Deviation
Standard Deviation is the average or standard distance between each point of data and
the mean. It's the standard amount of variability in your data set. If you know the
variance of your data set, then you can take the square root of that value to find the
standard deviation. However, you can also calculate the standard deviation by using
equations.
This equation is if you have the data for a total population:
σ = √ ∑ (X − µ)2 ÷ N
Where:
● σ: population standard deviation
● ∑: sum of
● X: each value
● µ: population mean
● N: number of values in the population
If you only have data for a sample, you can use this equation to find the standard
deviation:
S = √ ∑(X − x̅)2÷ n − 1
Where:
● S: sample standard deviation
● ∑: sum of
● X: each value
● x̅: sample mean
● n: number of values in the sample
References:
La Trobe University Library. (n.d.). Measures of variability. La Trobe University.
https://latrobe.libguides.com/maths/measures-of-variability
Indeed Editorial Team. (2023, July 21). What are measures of variation? (Definition and
examples). Indeed Career Guide.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/measures-of-variation
BYJU'S. (n.d.). Quartile deviation. BYJU’S. https://byjus.com/maths/quartile-deviation/
Cuemath. (n.d.). Mean deviation formula. Cuemath.
https://www.cuemath.com/mean-deviation-formula/
