COM570/653
SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUES IN
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
VA R I A B I L I T Y
Variability
The measures of central tendency provide
some information on the central location of
the data in a data distribution.
Nevertheless, they do not provide everything
that researcher would like to know about the
data.
Variability
Besides the measures of central tendency,
additional information about the data can be
supplemented by measures of dispersion.
The main purpose of incorporating measures of
dispersion is to get as much as possible a ‘true’
picture of the data. Dispersion indicates the spread
or variability of the data in a distribution.
Variability
Variability can be defined several ways
•A quantitative measure of the differences between
scores
•Describes the degree to which the scores are
spread out or clustered together
Purposes of Measure of Variability
•Describe the distribution
•Measure how well an individual score represents
the distribution
Variability- Measures
of Variation
Range- R
Distance between highest value and lowest
value
Variance- σ² / s²
Average of the squares the distance each
value is from the mean
SD- σ / s
Square root of the variance
Population Distributions:
Height, Weight
Variability
Properties of the Standard Deviation
1. SD gives researcher a measure of dispersion
relative to the mean. This differs from the range,
which gives an absolute measure of spread
between the two most extreme scores.
Variability
Properties of the Standard Deviation
2. SD is sensitive to each score in the distribution. If
a score is moved closer to the mean, then the SD
will become smaller.
Likewise, if a score shifts away form the mean, then
SD will increase.
Variability
Properties of the Standard Deviation
3. SD is stable with regard to sampling fluctuations;
like the mean. If samples were taken repeatedly from
population (in research of ), the SD of the samples
would vary much less from the sample than the
range.
This property is one of the main reasons why the SD
is used so much more often than the range when
reporting variability.
Variability
Properties of the Standard Deviation
4. SD can be manipulated algebraically; like the
mean. This allows mathematics to be done with mean
and SD for the use in inferential statistics.
Variability
Uses of the Variance and Standard Deviation
1. Variances and SD can be used to determine the
spread of the data. If the variance or SD is large, the
data are more dispersed. This information is useful in
comparing 2 or more data sets to determine which is
more (most) variable.
Variability
Uses of the Variance and Standard Deviation
2. The measures of variance and SD are used to
determine the consistency of a variable. For example,
in the manufacture of fittings, like nuts and bolts, the
variation in the diameters must be small, if not, the
parts will not fit together.
Variability
Uses of the Variance and Standard Deviation
3. The variance and SD are used to determine the
number of data values that fall within a specified
interval in a distribution.
4. The variance and SD are used quite often in
inferential statistics.
Variability
Standard Deviation and Variance for a
Population
• Most common and most important measure of
variability
• A measure of the standard, or average, distance
from the mean
• Describes whether the scores are clustered closely
around the mean or are widely scattered
• Calculation differs for population and samples
Developing the
Standard Deviation
Step One: Determine the Deviation
• Deviation is distance from the mean
Deviation score = X — μ
Step Two: Calculate Mean of Deviations
• Deviations sum to 0 because M is balance point of the
distribution
• The Mean Deviation will always equal 0; another method
must be found
Developing the
Standard Deviation
Step Three: Get rid of + and – in Deviations
• Square each deviation score
• Compute the Mean Squared Deviation, known as the
Variance
Population variance equals the mean squared deviation.
Variance is the average squared distance from the mean
• Variability is now measured in squared units
Developing the
Standard Deviation
Step Four:
• Goal: to compute a measure of the standard distance of the
scores from the mean
• Variance measures the average squared distance from the
mean; not quite on goal
• Correct for having squared all the differences by taking the
square root of the variance
Standard Deviation = Variance
Calculation of the
Variance
Find the deviation (distance
Square each
from the mean) for each score
deviation
Add the deviations and
compute the average
Find the average of the
squared deviations
DEAD END (called “variance”)
This value is always 0
The standard deviation Take the square
or standard distance root of the variance
from the mean
FORMULA
Formulas for Population Variance
and Standard Deviation
sum of squared deviations
Variance =
number of scores
• SS(sum of squares) is the sum of the squared deviations of
scores from the mean
• Two equations for computing SS
Formula for SS
Computational Formula
• Square each score and sum the squared scores
• Find the sum of scores, square it, divide by N
• Subtract the second part from the first
2 2
SS = ∑ X - (∑ X)
N
Formula for SS
Computational Formula
• Square each score and sum the squared scores
• Find the sum of scores, square it, divide by N
• Subtract the second part from the first
2 2
SS = ∑ X - (∑ X)
N
Population Variance:
Formula and Notation
Formula Notation
• Lowercase Greek letter sigma is used to
denote the standard deviation of a
SS
variance = population: σ
N
• Because the standard deviation is the
standard deviation =
SS square root of the variance, we write the
variance of a population as σ2
N
Graphic Representation of Mean
and Standard Deviation
Standard Deviation and
Variance for a Sample
• Goal of inferential statistics:– Draw general conclusions about
population– Based on limited information from a sample
• Samples differ from the population
– Samples have less variability
– Computing the Variance and Standard Deviation in the same way as
for a population would give a biased estimate of the population
values
Population of Adult
Heights
Variance and Standard
Deviation for a Sample
• Sum of Squares (SS) is computed as
SS
s
2
before variance of sample = =
n-1
• Formula for Variance has n-1 rather than
N in the denominator standard deviation of sample = s = SS
n-1
• Notation uses s instead of σ
Degrees of Freedom
• Ref text book page 51
• Population variance
– Mean is known
– Deviations are computed from a known mean
• Sample variance as estimate of population
– Population mean is unknown
– Using sample mean restricts variability
• Degrees of freedom
– Number of scores in sample that are independent and free to vary
– Degrees of freedom (df) = n – 1
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