30: Variability: Range, Variance, Standard Deviation

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VARIABILITY

Variability refers to the spread of the scores within a distribution. Along with the central tendency, it helps in understanding the data set as a whole. There are four major measures of variability:

    • 1. Range

      • Difference between the highest and lowest scores [+1]

2. Interquartile Range

      • Difference between the 75th and 25th Percentile

3. Variance

      • The degree of spread within the distribution (the larger the spread, the larger the variance)

4. Standard Deviation

    • A measure of how the average score deviates or spreads away from the mean (defined as the square root of the variance)