MADDA WALABU UNIVERSITY
Introduction to Statistics for
Information Science Students
Department of Statistics
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4. Measures of Dispersion (Variation)
4.1. Introduction
The scatter or spread of items of a distribution is
known as dispersion or variation.
In other words the degree to which numerical data
tend to spread about an average value is called
dispersion or variation of the data.
Measures of dispersions are statistical measures
which provide ways of measuring the extent in
which data are dispersed or spread out.
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4.2. Objectives of Measuring Variation:
The objectives of measuring variation:
To judge the reliability of measures of central
tendency.
To control variability itself.
To compare two or more groups of numbers in terms
of their variability.
To make further statistical analysis.
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4.3. Absolute and Relative Measures of Dispersion
4.3.1. Absolute Measures of Variation
The measures of dispersion which are expressed in terms of
the original unit of a series are termed as absolute measures.
Such measures are not suitable for comparing the
variability of two distributions which are expressed in
different units of measurement and different average size.
Examples:- Range, variance, standard déviation, etc.
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4.3.2. Relative Measures of Variation
It is the quotient obtained by dividing the absolute measure
by a quantity in respect to which absolute deviation has been
computed.
Relative measure of variation is a pure number and used for
making comparisons between different distributions/different
units.
Examples:- Coefficient of range/relative range, coefficient
of variation, standard score, etc.
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4.4. Types of Measures of Dispersion
The most commonly used measures of dispersions
are:
1) Range and relative range
2) Quartile deviation and coefficient of Quartile
deviation
3) Mean deviation and coefficient of Mean deviation
4) Standard deviation ,coefficient of variation and
standard scores
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Cont.…
Range:
It is the difference between maximum and minimum
values for ungrouped data.
It is the difference between upper class limit and lower
class limit for grouped data.
It is a quick and dirty measure of variability, because
the range is greatly affected by extreme scores, it may
give a distorted picture of the scores.
RR = Range/(Max + Min)
Properties of range
It is affected by extreme values
It does not take into account all observations
It is easy to calculate and simple to understand
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Interquartile Range:
Interquartile Range is the difference between third and first
quartile (Q3 - Q1).
The Quartile Deviation (Semi-inter quartile range), Q.D:
The quartile deviation (semi-inter quartile range) is half of
the inter quartile range.
Coefficient of Quartile Deviation (C.Q.D):
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Example - Range and Interquartile Range (Data is used
from Example 1-1)
Sorted
Sales Sales Rank Range: Maximum - Minimum =
9 6 1 Minimum 24 - 6 = 18
6 9 2
12 10 3
10 12 4
13 13 5 Q1 = 13 + (.25)(1) = 13.25
15 14 6 First Quartile
16 14 7
14 15 8
14 16 9
16 16 10 Q2 = Median =P50 = D5
17 16 11
16 17 12
24 17 13
21 18 14 Q3 = 18+ (.75)(1) = 18.75
22 18 15
18 19 16 Third Quartile
19 20 17 Interquartile Q3 - Q1 =
18 21 18 18.75 - 13.25 = 5.5
20 22 19 Range:
17 24 20 Maximum
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The Mean Deviation (M.D):
The mean deviation of a set of items is defined as the arithmetic
mean of the values of the absolute deviations from a given
average.
Depending up on the type of averages used we have different
mean deviations.
a) Mean Deviation about the mean
b) Mean Deviation about the median.
c) Mean Deviation about the mode.
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Variance and Standard Deviation
Variance is the average squared deviation from the mean.
Population Variance:
The sum of the squares of the deviations is divided by the
number of values in the population.
Sample Variance:
The sum of the squares of the deviations is divided by one
less than the sample size.
Standard Deviation:
It is the square root of variance.
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Variance and Standard Deviation
Population Variance Sample Variance
n
N
(x )
2 (x x) 2
s
2 i 1
2 i 1
N
n 1
( x) ( )
2 2
N n
x
N n
i 1
x 2
i 1
x 2
i 1 N
i 1
n
N n 1
2
s s
2
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Cont.…
The following steps are used to calculate the
sample variance:
1. Find the arithmetic mean.
2. Find the difference between each observation and
the mean.
3. Square these differences.
4. Sum the squared differences.
5. Since the data is a sample, divide the number
(from step 4 above) by the number of observations
minus one, i.e., n-1.
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Variance and Standard Deviation for ungrouped data
Example: Suppose you record response times (in
milliseconds) for a web service: 120, 150, 130, 100, 110.
a) Find the sample variance and standard deviation.
Solution:
Step 1: Mean response time (𝑋)
𝑆𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑋=
𝑛
120 + 150 + 130 + 100 + 110 610
𝑋= = = 122
5 5
The mean response time for a web service is 122 ms.
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Cont.…
Step 2: Deviation from the Mean
𝑋 − 122 : -2, 28, 8, -22, -12
Step 3: Square deviation from the Mean
(X - 89)²: 4, 784, 64, 484, 144
Step 4: Sum the square deviation
4+784+64+484+144 = 1,480
1,480
Step 5: Variance (𝑠 2 ) = = 370
4
Step 6: Standard Deviation (s) = 370 = 19.24
The standard deviation (19 ms) indicates that the response times
typically vary by about 19 ms from the average.
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Cont.…
Example: Suppose information science students want to study
monthly internet usage among users. The data collected is
summarized below: Find the standard deviation.
Internet Usage (GB/month) 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50
Number of users 5 9 12 8 6
Solution: Midpoint (X): 5, 15, 25, 35, 45
5
𝑖<1 𝑥𝑖 𝑓𝑖 25 + 135 + 300 + 280 + 270 1010
𝑋= 5 = = = 25.25
𝑖<1 𝑓𝑖 5 + 9 + 12 + 8 + 6 40
The average monthly internet usage is about 25 GB per user.
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Cont.…
Second
Internet Usage (GB) 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50
Number of users (𝑓𝑖 ) 5 9 12 8 6
Class Mark (𝐶𝑀𝑖 ) 5 15 25 35 45
𝐶𝑀𝑖 − 𝑋 -20.25 -10.25 -0.25 9.75 19.75
2
𝐶𝑀𝑖 − 𝑋 410.0625 105.0625 0.0625 95.0625 390.0625
𝑓𝑖 𝐶𝑀𝑖 − 𝑋 2 2050.3125 945.5625 0.75 760.50 2340.375
𝑘 2
2 𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝐶𝑀𝑖 ;𝑋 2050.3125: …:2340.375 6097.5
𝑆 = 𝑘 𝑓 ;1 = = = 156.35
𝑖=1 1 40;1 39
Therefore, 𝑆 = 156.35 = 12.5 𝐺𝐵
The standard deviation (12.5 GB) is relatively high, meaning users’
internet usage varies widely.
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Properties of Variance and Standard deviation
The unit of measurement of the variance is the square of
the unit of measurement of the observed values.
It is based on all observations.
Computed for numerical data, it is always exists, and
unique.
It is greatly affected by extreme values.
Standard deviation is considered to be the best measure
of dispersion and is used widely
If the variance/standard deviation is large, the data is
more dispersed.
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Special properties of Standard deviations
1. For normal (symmetric) distribution the following holds.
Approximately 68.27% of the data values fall within one standard deviation of the
mean. i.e. with in ( X S , X S )
Approximately 95.45% of the data values fall within two standard deviations of the
mean. i.e. with in ( X 2S , X 2S )
Approximately 99.73% of the data values fall within three standard deviations of the
mean. i.e. with in ( X 3S , X 3S )
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Coefficient of Variation (C.V)
CV is defined as the ratio of standard deviation to the mean
usually expressed as percent's.
𝒔
𝑪𝑽 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝑿
The distribution having less C.V is said to be less variable or
more consistent or more uniform or more homogeneous.
It is the corresponding relative measure of standard
deviation.
CV is used to compare the variability or the consistent
of two or more different groups.
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Cont.…
Example: Suppose the following information is obtained from Provider A and
Provider B regarding Internet Speed.
Value Provider A Provider B
Mean 25 Mbps 35 Mbps
Standard Deviation 2.5 10.5
a) Which Provider is more consistent in Internet speed?
Solution:
𝑠 2.5
𝐶𝑉𝐴 = 𝑥𝐴 × 100% = 25
× 100% = 10%
𝐴
𝑠𝐵 10.5
𝐶𝑉𝐹 = × 100% = × 100% = 30%
𝑥𝐵 35
Provider A offers stable performance. Provider B is faster but less reliable.
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Standard Scores (Z-scores)
If X is a measurement from a distribution with mean
and standard deviation S, then its value in standard units
is:
Z gives the deviations from the mean in units of
standard deviation.
Z gives the number of standard deviation a particular
observation lie above or below the mean.
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Cont.…
Z-scores is used to compare two observations
coming from different groups.
If Z is +ve – the observation lies above the mean.
If Z is -ve – the observation lies below the mean.
If Z is 0 – the observation is equal to the mean.
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Important of Z-Scores in Biostatistics
Z-scores help biologists to:
Detect outliers
Standardizing Data for Comparison
Machine Learning & Data Preprocessing
Perform hypothesis testing
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Cont.…
Example: Suppose Network A and Network B provided the
following information on file download speeds:
Network Mean Standard Deviation
A 50 Mbps 5
B 80 Mbps 20
a) If files download at 60 and 90 Mbps from networks A and
B, respectively.
In terms of relative importance, which network performanc
e change is more significant?
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Cont.…
Solution:
𝑋𝐴 ;𝑥1 60;50 10
𝑍𝐴 = = = =2
𝑠1 5 5
𝑋𝐵 ;𝑥2 90;80 1
𝑍𝐵 = = = = 0.5
𝑠2 20 20
The maximum file download from network B is 0.5 standard
deviations above the mean, whereas the maximum file downlo
ad from network A is 2 standard deviations above the mean.
As a result, Network A's performance change is more notable
in comparison.
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4.5. Measures of Skewness and Kurtosis
4.5.1. Skewness
Skewness is the degree of asymmetry or departure from
symmetry of a distribution.
A skewed frequency distribution is one that is not
symmetrical.
Skewness is concerned with the shape of the curve not size.
If the frequency curve of a distribution has a longer tail to
the right of the central maximum than to the left, the
distribution is said to be skewed to the right or said to have
positive skewness.
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Cont.…
If it has a longer tail to the left of the central maximum than to
the right, it is said to be skewed to the left or said to have
negative skewness.
Measures of Skewness
The measures of skewness is denoted by .
There are various measures of skewness.
1) The Pearsonian coefficient of skewness
𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒏 ; 𝑴𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝒙;𝒙
𝜶𝟑 = =
𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔
2) The Bowley’s coefficient of skewness
𝑸𝟑 ;𝑸𝟐 ;(𝑸𝟐 ;𝑸𝟏 ) 𝑸𝟑 :𝑸𝟏 ;𝟐𝑸𝟐
𝜶𝟑 = =
𝑸𝟑 ;𝑸𝟏 𝑸𝟑 ;𝑸𝟏
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Cont.…
The shape of the curve is determined by the value of
If 𝜶𝟑 > 𝟎, the distribution is positively skewed.
If 𝜶𝟑 = 𝟎, the distribution is symmetric.
If 𝜶𝟑 < 𝟎, the distribution is negatively skewed.
In a positively skewed distribution, smaller observations
are more frequent than larger observations. i.e. the
majority of the observations have a value below an average.
In a negatively skewed distribution, smaller observations
are less frequent than larger observations. i.e. the majority
of the observations have a value above an average.
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Examples of the Curve
Negatively Skewed Normal (no skew) Positively Skewed
Mean < Median < Mode Mean = Median = Mode Mean > Median > Mode
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4.5.2. Kurtosis
Kurtosis is the degree of peakedness of a distribution,
usually taken relative to a normal distribution.
It is measured by Pearson’s coefficient (𝛼4 ).
A distribution having relatively high peak is called
leptokurtic.
If a curve representing a distribution is flat topped, it is called
platykurtic.
The normal distribution which is not very high peaked or flat
topped is called mesokurtic.
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Cont.…
Measures of kurtosis:
𝑀4 𝑀4
𝛼4 = = , Where
𝑀2 𝜎4
𝑀4 is the fourth moment about the mean.
𝑀2 is the second moment about the mean.
𝜎 4 is the population standard deviation.
The peakdness depends on the value of 𝜶𝟒 .
If 𝜶𝟒 > 𝟑 then the curve is leptokurtic.
If 𝜶𝟒 = 𝟑 then the curve is mesokurtic.
If 𝜶𝟒 < 𝟑 then the curve is platykurtic.
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Cont.…
The following curve is show measures of kurtosis
𝜶𝟒 > 𝟑, Leptokurtic
𝜶𝟒 = 𝟑, Mesokurtic or Normal
𝜶𝟒 < 𝟑, Platykurtic
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The End
Thank You!!!
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