DISPERITIVE STATISTICAL

MEASURES

It is mainly two types

1.MEASURES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY
2.MEASURES OF DISPERSION

MEASURES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY

It is a sort of average or
typical value of the item in
the series and its function is
to summarise the series in
terms of average value.
This average is a single value
which considered as the most
representative or a typical

The most common measures of

central tendencies are.
I. Arithmetic mean
II. Median
III.Mode

ARITHMETIC MEAN
It is also called Arithmetic
average or simply mean
The arithmetic mean of a set
of values is their sum divided
by their number.
Mean is the most useful
measures of central tendency.

Merits of Arithmetic
Mean
1.It is easy to understand
and simple to compute.
2.Its value is based on each
and every item of the data
with the result that a
change in any item would
mean a change in the

3.

It is most commonly used

in further statistical
computations.
4. Arrangement of data is
not required for computing
mean.

Demerits of Arithmetic
Mean
1. It is affected by the extreme
items.
2. Mean cannot be calculated for
open-end class intervals
like below 50,100 and above etc.
3. Its value cannot be determined
graphically.

USES OF MEAN
1. When scores are symmetrically or
near symmetrically distributed
around a central point.
2. When the situation warrants a
measures of central tendency ,
having the greatest stability.
3. When one wants to compute SD and
other statistics which are based
upon the mean.

MEDIAN
The median is the
midpoint of a set of
scores.
If the number of score is
even , the median is half
way between the two
middle most scores.
If the number of score is

Merits of Median
1. Like mean , median is simply to
understand.
2. Median is not affected by extreme
items.
3. Median is specially useful in
qualitative phenomena like
honesty,intelligence,efficiency etc.

Demerits of Median
1. It is not always rigidly defined.
2. It is generally not used in further
statistical work.
3. Again if the number of
distribution is small then the
median tends to be unstable.

USES OF MEDIAN
When the exact midpoint
separating the distribution into
two equal halves is wanted.
When extreme scores are
present in the distribution
which would markedly affect
the mean

MODE
The mode is defined as
the scale of measurement
with maximum frequency
in a distribution.

Merits of Mode
1. It is simple to understand because it
is the most typical value of the
series.
2. Its value is not affected by the
presence of extreme items.
3. Mode can be determined graphically.
4. Mode is useful in such cases where
it is desired to find out the most
popular value of the series.

Demerits of Mode
1.It is a measure having very
limited practical value.
2.It does not lend itself readily to
further algebraic manipulation.
3.It is not used for further
statistical measures.
4.It is not affected by the
extreme items.

USES OF MODE
1. When the quick and approximate
measure of central tendency is all
that is wanted.
2. When the measures of central
tendency is the most typical value.
3. The mode is best suited where
there is an outstanding large
frequency.

Measures of Dispersion
Measures of variability or
dispersion, the spread or
dispersion of the scores around
the average on the central
value.

The most common measures of

Measures of Dispersion are.
1.Range
2.Quartile Deviation(QD)
3. Mean Deviation(MD)
4. Standard Deviation(SD)

RANGE
1. It is the difference between the
highest and lowest scores.
2. Range is the simplest method of
studying variation.
3. The relative measures
corresponding to range is called
the Coefficient of Range.

Merits of Range
1. It is the most simplest method
of studying variation.
2. It takes minimum time to
calculate

Demerits of Range
1. Range is not based on each and
every observation of the
distribution.
2. Further statistical analysis are
difficulties to make.

USES OF RANGE
1. When the data are too scattered
to justify the computations of a
more precise measure of
variability.
2. When the knowledge of total
spread is all that is varied.

QUARTILE DEVIATION
Quartile deviations are difference
between the third and first
quartile divided by two.
Difference between third and
first quartile is considered as
inter- quartile range.

MERITS OF QUARTILE DEVIATION

Superior to range as a rough
measure of dispersion.
Specially useful in case of open
end class.
Not affected by the presence of
extreme values.
It is also useful in highly skewed
distributions.

DEMERITS OF QUARTILE DEVIATION

As the values does not depend

upon every item of the series,it
cannot be regarded as a good
method of dispersion.
Affected by sampoint
fluctuations.
It gives only a position on the
scale rather than the scatter.

USE OF QUARTILE DEVIATIONS

The median is the measure of

central tendency.
There are scattered or extreme
scores which would influences
the SD disproportionately.

Mean Deviation
The mean deviation is the mean of
the deviation of all the separate
scores in a series taken from their
arithmetic mean.

Merits of MD
1. It is simple to understand and
easy to compute.
2. It is based on each and every
observation.

Demerits of MD
1. In fact MD is not in common use.It is
rarely used in modern statistics.
2. Generally dispersion is studied by
SD.
3. The greatest problem with MD is
that,here algebraic sign are ignored
when taking the deviation of the
item.

USES OF MD
1. When it is desired to weigh all
from the mean according to
their size.
2. When extreme deviations would
influence SD

STANDARD DEVIATION
SD is the most reliable and
stable index of variability.
SD was introduced by Karl
Pearson.
It is a good measure of
dispersion

Merits of SD
SD is the best measure of
variation.
It is most widely used and
important measure of dispersion.
It is possible to calculate the
combined SD of two or more
groups.Which is not possible with
any other measure.

Demerits of SD
As compared to other
measure it is difficult to
calculate.

USE OF SD
When the measure of
dispersion having the
greatest stability is required.