Dispersion / Measures of Dispersion: Definition

Statistics Definitions > Dispersion

What is Dispersion?
Dispersion in statistics is a way of describing how spread out a set of data is.
When a data set has a large value, the values in the set are widely scattered;
when it is small the items in the set are tightly clustered. Very basically, this set
of data has a small value:
1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4
…and this set has a wider one:
0, 1, 20, 30, 40, 100

The spread of a data set can be described by a range of descriptive statistics

including variance, standard deviation, and interquartile range. Spread can also
be shown in graphs: dot plots, boxplots, and stem and leaf plots have a greater
distance with samples that have a larger dispersion and vice versa.

The larger the box, the more dispersion in a set of data. Image: Seton Hall
University

Measures of Dispersion.
 Coefficient of dispersion: A “catch-all” term for a variety of formulas,
including distance between quartiles.
 Standard deviation: probably the most common measure. It tells you how
spread out numbers are from the mean,
 Index of Dispersion: a measure of dispersion commonly used with nominal
variables.
 Interquartile range (IQR): describes where the bulk of the data lies (the
“middle fifty” percent).
 Interdecile range: the difference between the first decile (10%) and the last
decile (90%).
 Range: the difference between the smallest and largest number in a set of
data.
 Mean difference or difference in means: measures the absolute difference
between the mean value in two different groups in clinical trials.
 Median absolute deviation (MAD): the median of the absolute deviations
from a data set’s median.
 Quartiles: Numbers that split the data into four quarters (first, second, third,
and fourth quartiles).
In some processes, like manufacturing or measurement, low dispersion is
associated with high precision. High dispersion is associated with low precision.

Measures of Dispersion: Example

Let’s say you were asked to compare measures of dispersion for two data sets.
Data set A has the items 97,98,99,100,101,102,103 and data set B has items
70,80,90,100,110,120,130. By looking at the data sets you can probably tell that
the means and medians are the same (100) which technically are called
“measures of central tendency” in statistics.

However, the range (which gives you an idea of how spread out the entire set of
data is) is much larger for data set B (60) when compared to data set A (6). In
fact, nearly all measures of dispersion would be ten times greater for data set B,
which makes sense as the range is ten times larger. For example, take a look at
the standard deviations for the two data sets:
Standard deviation for A: 2.160246899469287.
Standard deviation for B: 21.602468994692867.
The figure for data set B is exactly ten times that of A.