LEC 9 - Measures of Variability
LEC 9 - Measures of Variability
STATISTICAL TOOLS IN
EVALUATION
DESCRIPTIVE VALUES
MEASURES OF VARIABILITY
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
• WHEN THE GRAPH OF THE SCORES IS A NORMAL
CURVE, THE MODE, MEDIAN, AND MEAN ARE EQUAL
• THE MEAN IS THE MOST COMMON MEASURE OF
CENTRAL TENDENCY
• WHEN THE SCORES ARE QUITE SKEWED OR THE
DATA IS ORDINAL LACKING A COMMON INTERVAL,
THE MEDIAN IS A BETTER MEASURE OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY
• THE MODE IS USED ONLY WHEN THE MEAN OR
MEDIAN CANNOT BE CALCULATED (E.G., NOMINAL
DATA) OR WHEN THE ONLY INFORMATION WANTED
IS THE MOT FREQUENT SCORE (E.G., MOST UNIFORM
SIZE OR INJURY SITE)
MEASURES OF VARIABILITY
• RANGE
• STANDARD DEVIATION
• VARIANCE
RANGE
• EASIEST MEASURE OF
VARIABILITY TO CALCULATE
• USED WHEN THE MEASURE OF
CENTRAL TENDENCY IS THE MODE
(NOMINAL DATA OR WHEN THE
MOST FREQUENT SCORE IS OF
INTEREST) OR MEDIAN (ORDINAL
DATA OR SKEWED DATA)
• SIMPLY THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE HIGHEST AND
LOWEST SCORES
WHAT IS THE RANGE IN THE SET OF
SCORES BELOW?
• SET OF SCORES:
7, 2, 7, 6, 5, 6, 2
• X = SCORES
• N = NUMBER OF SCORES
• FORMULA TYPICALLY USED
FOR HAND CALCULATION
CALCULATIONAL FORMULA FOR
STANDARD DEVIATION
• FORMULA 2.4 SHOULD BE USED IF THE
GROUP TESTED IS VIEWED AS A
REPRESETATIVE PART OF THE
POPULATION; CONSIDERED THEN A
SAMPLE
• STANDARD DEVIATION CALCULATED
ON THE SAMPLE IS USED AS AN
ESTIMATE OF THE POPULATION
STANDARD DEVIATION (E.G.,
CALCULATION OF THE STANDARD
DEVIATION OF THE 40-YARD TIME OF
COLLEGE WIDE RECEIVERS THAT IS
USED AS AN ESTIMATION OF THE
STANDARD DEVIATION OF ALL
COLLEGE WIDE RECEIVERS)
• X = SCORES
• N = NUMBER OF SCORES
• FORUMULA TYPICALLY USED FOR
HAND CALCULATION
SAMPLE CALCULATION OF THE STANDARD
DEVIATION USING FORMULA 2.3 AND 2.4 AND THE
FOLLOWING TESTS SCORES: 7, 2, 7, 6, 5, 6, 2
VARIANCE
• USEFUL STATISTIC IN CERTAIN
HIGH LEVEL STATISTICAL
PROCEDURES LIKE REGRESSION
ANALYSIS AND ANALYSIS OF
VARIANCE (ANOVA)
• CALCULATED BY SQUARING THE
STANDARD DEVIATION (S2)
• STANDARD DEVIATION = S = 4
• VARIANCE = S2 = 42 = 16
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS??
THANK YOU!!