MEASURES OF VARIABILITY

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MEASURES OF
VARIABILITY

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OUTLINE
 Introduction (From Summary Statistics)

 Case 1

 Range

 Variance

 Standard Deviation

 Case 2- Cumulative Frequency Table for Grouped Data

 Coefficient of Variation

 Additional Exercise

 References

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Introduction: [Summary statistics- the umbrella]

Summary
Statistics

Measures of Measures of
Central Tendency variation, spread or
dispersion

Mean Range

Median Variance

Standard
Mode Deviation

Coefficient of
Variation (C.V)

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Summary Statistics

 Measures of Location
 Measures of Variation

◦ Range
◦ Standard Deviation
◦ Variance
◦ Coefficient of Variation (C.V)

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Case 1

 The number of visits to an antenatal clinic by 10 mothers

before delivery of their last babies are as follows:

◦ 6,4,8,5,3,8,10,7,12,9

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Range

 Range : Difference between the largest and the lowest values.

◦ R= Largest- Lowest

 E.g.: Calculate the range in case 1

◦ R = 12 – 3 = 9

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Variance

 Variance: Measures how the data are spread out from the
mean values. - measure of dispersion

◦ The larger the variance, the further the individual cases are from
the mean.

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Variance [Formulas]
n _
 Sample Variance = (X i  X )2
S2  i 1
n 1
2 2 2 _
 _
   _
 _

 X 1  X    X 2  X   ...   X n  X 
     
n 1

N

 iX   2

 Population s.d   i 1
N

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Standard Deviation [Formulas]

 Sample Standard Deviation

n 2
 _

 
i 1 
X i  X 

S 
n 1

 Population Standard Deviation

N

 X  
2
i
  i 1
N

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Definition of Formulas
Where:

S 2  sample variane
S = sample standard deviation
X i  individual value
X  sample mean
n  number of values
 2  population var iance
  population s tan dard deviation
N  population size
  population mean

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Case 2- [Grouped Data]

 The Age class of 50 patients that visited the in-patient clinic

today is presented in the table below

No. of order f x fx fx2

10 – 12 4 11 44 484
13 – 15 12 14 168 2352
16 – 18 20 17 340 5780
19 – 21 14 20 280 5600
Total n = 50  
832 14216

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Variance [Formulas] Grouped Data
 fx 
2

 fx 2

N
Whole Population Variance 2 
N

 fx 
2

 fx 2

n
Sample Variance s2 
n 1

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Standard Deviation [Formulas]-
Grouped Data
Whole Population Standard Deviation

 fx  2
2

 fx 2 
N   
N

Sample Population Standard Deviation

 fx 
2
2
s
 fx 2 
n s s
n 1

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Variance - Standard Deviation
[Exercise]

 Calculate the Variance and Standard Deviation of

the number of antenatal visits in Case1

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 Variance - Standard Deviation
[Solution]
 Step 1:Calculate the mean number of visits
_
X
X i

n
6  4  8  5  3  8  10  7  12  9

10
72
  7.2
10
 Step 2: Find the deviation of each observation from the mean value
 _
 _
 _
 _
 _
 _
 _
 _
 _
 _

  X 1  X ,  X 2  X ,  X 3  X ,  X 4  X ,  X 5  X ,  X 6  X ,  X 7  X ,  X 8  X ,  X 9  X ,  X 10  X 
          
          
  6  7.2 ,  4  7.2 ,  8  7.2 ,  5  7.2 ,  3  7.2 ,  8  7.2 , 10  7.2 ,  7  7.2 , 12  7.2 ,  9  7.2 
          

 Step 3:
2 2
Square each deviation and add:
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
 _
   
_ _
  _
  _
  _
  _
  _
  _
  _
  _

  X i  X    X 1  X  ,  X 2  X  ,  X 3  X  ,  X 4  X  ,  X 5  X  ,  X 6  X  ,  X 7  X  ,  X 8  X  ,  X 9  X  ,  X 10  X 
2
 _

  i    1.2 2 3.2  0.8  2.2   4.2  0.8  2.8   2  4.8  1.8
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
 X  X
 _

  i   69.6
 X  X

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Variance - Standard Deviation
[Solution]
 Step 4: Divide the sum of the squared deviations by the number of observations less 1:
2
 _

 

x i  x 

s2 
n 1
69.6
 s2 
10  1
69.6
 s2   7.73
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 Step 5: Find the square root of the variance to obtain the standard deviation
2
 _

  xi  x 
SD 
n 1
SD  7.73
SD  2.78

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Variance - Standard Deviation
[Exercise] – Grouped Data

 Calculate Variance and Standard deviation for case 2

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Variance - Standard Deviation
[Solution] – Grouped Data
 fx 
 
2

 fx 2

n
s2 
n 1

14216 
832 
2

 50
50  1

 7.5820

s  s 2  7.5820  2.75

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Coefficient of Variation
 Coefficient of Variation (C.V): Useful for
Comparison of variability of two samples.

 C.V= (standard deviation/ mean) x 100

 s.d 
  X 100
 C.V =  X 

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Coefficient of Variation [Exercise]

 Calculate the coefficient of variation for case1

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Coefficient of Variation [Solution]
 Case 1
_
X  7.2
SD  2.78
 sd 
C.V   _  100
 
X 
 2.78 
   100
 7.2 
 0.3861100

 38.6%

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Additional Cases
 1. The Following are age (years) at onset of a chronic disease
recorded in 50 patients
 54, 45, 58, 49, 47, 60, 55, 40, 46, 41, 46, 44, 55, 58, 49,
53, 49, 42, 49, 52, 51, 47, 45, 53, 53, 47, 51, 46, 48, 52,
56, 47, 48, 44, 55, 57, 54, 42, 58, 49, 53, 52, 54, 59, 42,
58, 44

 Calculate the:
 Range,
 Interquartile range,
 Variance,
 Standard Deviation, and
 Coefficient of Variation
 Of the data set

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Additional Cases… 2
 2. The frequency table of weights of patients in female surgical ward
of a Federal Medical center before a surgical procedure is thus
presented:
Weight (kg) f x fx fx 2
60 - 69 5 65.5 327.5 107256.3
70 - 79 15 75.5 1132.5 1282556
80 - 89 20 85.5 1710 2924100
90 - 99 25 95.5 2387.5 5700156
100- 109 20 105.5 2110 4452100
110 - 119 15 115.5 1732.5 3001556

◦ Calculate:
 The Variance and
 The Standard Deviation

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