PSYC 218 Chapter 5: Chapter 5.docx
Document Summary
Chapter 5: measures of variability: express quantitatively the extent to which the scores in a distribution scatter about or cluster together, it describes the spread but doesn"t tell you how much a score varies from the center, does not tell you the shape of a distribution nor the central tendency, to describe a distribution adequately you need, a measure of central tendency, measure of variability, description of the shape. The range and the semi interquartile range: range: the difference between the lowest score and the highest score in a distribution, it is a distance not a location (specific score, is very influenced by extreme scores, semi interquartile range (q): the middle 50% of scores, defined as one half the distance between the first and third quartile point, quartile points: three score points that divide the distribution into 4 parts, each containing 25% of the scores.
