Lesson 3:

MEASURES
OF
RELATIVE POSITION
Measures of relative Position
Also referred as quantiles are
descriptive measures that locate
the relative position of a score in
relation to the rest in a given
distribution. There are three
measures of relative position,
namely the percentile, deciles
and quartiles.
Quartiles (Q)
are the score points which divides the
distribution into four equal parts. Each
set of observations has 3 quartiles and
are denoted by Q1, Q2, an Q3.

Q1 Q2 Q3
a. 25% of the distribution has a value ≤Q1. (lower quartile or the first
quartile.)
b. 50% of the distribution has a value ≤Q2. (median or middle quartile.)
c. 75% of the distribution has a value ≤Q3. (upper quartile or the last
Deciles (D)
are the score points which divides the
distribution into ten equal parts. Each
set of observations has 9 deciles and are
denoted by D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D9, .

D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9
a. 10% of the distribution has a value ≤D1. (first decile.)
b. 50% of the distribution has a value ≤ D5. (median or middle decile.)
c. 90% of the distribution has a value ≤ D9. (9th decile.)
Percentiles (P)
are the score points which divides the
distribution into one hundred equal parts.
Each set of observations has 90 percentiles
and are denoted by P10, P20, P30, P40, P50, P60,
P70, P80, P90, .

P10 P20 P30 P40 P50 P60 P70 P80 P90

a. 10% of the distribution has a value ≤P10. (10th percentile.)
b. 50% of the distribution has a value ≤ P50. (median or 50th percentile.)
c. 90% of the distribution has a value ≤ P90. (90th percentile.)
Quantiles for Ungrouped Data
To compute the quantiles of
ungrouped data we will be using
the (n + 1) method. Where n
represents the total number of
scores in a data set.
If (n + 1) xp = jg where j is the
integral part and g is the
fractional part of the product.
Quantiles for Ungrouped Data
then
PV = Xj + g(Xj+1 - Xj)
thus PV is the number in the /th
position (Xj) of the ordered data
plus g multiplied by the difference
between the succeeding value.
Example
Find Q1, D5 P80 for the following data.
45 67 78 55 58 88 90
56 68 99

65 70 86 99 59 75 45
84 69 50

Solution: Arrange first the data from lowest to highest.

40 45 45 50 55 56 59
65 67 68

69 70 75 78 84 86 88
90 99 99
Solving for Q1
Since Q1 = P25, we get 25% (20 + 1) = 5.25, which
mean that j = 5 and g = .25 which means that Q1 is
the 5th score (55) plus 0.25 of the difference between
the 6th score (56) and 5th score (55). Hence.
PV = Xj + g(Xj+1 - Xj)
Q1 = 55 + .25(56-55)
Q1 = 55 + .25
Q1 = 55.25
Hence, 25% of the scores in the distribution are below
55.25
Solving for D5
Since D5 = P50, we get 50% (20 + 1) = 10.5, which
mean that j = 10 and g = .50 which means that D5 is
the 10th score (68) plus 0.50 of the difference between
the 11th score (69) and the 10th score (68). Hence.
PV = Xj + g(Xj+1 - Xj)
D5 = 68 + .50(69-68)
D5 = 68 + .50
D5 = 68.50
Hence, 50% of the scores in the distribution are below
68.50
Solving for P80
For P80, we get 80% (20 + 1) = 16.8, which mean
that j = 16 and g = .80 which means that P80 is the
16th score (86) plus 0.80 of the difference between
the 17th score (88) and the 16th score (86). Hence.
PV = Xj + g(Xj+1 - Xj)
P80 = 86 + .80(88-86)
P80 = 86 + 1.60
P80 = 87.60
Hence, 80% of the scores in the distribution are
Solving for P99
For P99, we get 99% (20 + 1) =
20.79. Thus, P99 is the score which
is .79 of the way from 20th score to
the next score. Since we do not
have a score beyond the 20th
score we take the 20th score as the
value of P99. Therefore P99 = 99.
Quantiles for grouped Data
To compute the quantiles of
grouped data, similar
computation of the median will
be followed. Since Px is the value
below which x% of the total
number of cases lies, we can
revise the formula for median by
changing n/2 to x%(n). Therefore
Quantiles for grouped Data
P = LL + (2n - Fb ) c
f
Where:
LL = true lower limit of the class interval
containing Px
Fb = the sum of all frequency below the intervals
containing Px (or the <cf directly below the intervals
containing Px ).
f = frequency of the intervals containing P x
c = class size
n = total number of classes
Example
Find first Quartile Q1.
Scores of 40 students in a 60 point Quiz.
Interval
Score Frequency Lower <cf
boundary
53-58 3 52.5 40
47-52 4 46.5 37
41-46 1 40.5 33
35-40 2 34.5 32
29-34 10 28.5 30
23-28 11 22.5 20
17-22 4 16.5 9
11-16 3 10.5 5
5-10 2 4.5 2
Box Plots or “Box Whiskers Diagram
A box plot also known as Box
Whiskers Diagram is a visual
presentation of a summary of a data
set. This is obtained by plotting the
values of the five descriptive
statistics of the data which are the
smallest value, the lower quartile Q1,
the median Q2, the upper quartile Q3,
and the largest value.
To construct a box plot, the following
procedures must be considered :
1. Draw a box that spans from Q1 to Q3.
2. Draw line segment in the box that
marks the median Q2.
3. Draw line segment (called whiskers)
that extend from the box to the smallest
and largest values of the data.
Example
Construct a box plot for the following data.
40 45 45 50 55 56 59 65 67 68
69 70 75 78 84 86 88 90 99 99
Solution:
Base on the data we have the following five summary
values.
1. smallest value = 40
2. Q1 = 55.25
3. Q2 = 68.50
4. Q3 = 85.5
5. Largest value = 99
The resulting box plot is
Q1 Q2 Q3
S
L

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100