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Geographical Skills

Measures of dispersion

  • 3 things to know
  • All three components

Overview

Range and state one weakness of it, inter-quartile range and shown by a box plot.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Why is a measure of dispersion needed alongside a measure of central tendency?

Evaluation

Define the range and state one weakness of it.

Key term

Define the inter-quartile range.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why is a measure of dispersion needed alongside a measure of central tendency?

    Model answer

    Two data sets can share a mean and differ completely in spread. Dispersion shows how closely the values cluster around the centre.

  2. 2

    Define the range and state one weakness of it.

    Model answer

    The range is the difference between the largest and smallest value. A single outlier at either end distorts it completely.

  3. 3

    Define the inter-quartile range.

    Model answer

    The inter-quartile range is the difference between the upper and lower quartiles. The measure describes the spread of the middle half of the data.

  4. 4

    For the ordered set 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, state the quartiles and the inter-quartile range.

    Model answer

    The lower quartile is 3 and the upper quartile is 11. The inter-quartile range is therefore 8.

  5. 5

    Why is the inter-quartile range more robust than the range?

    Model answer

    The inter-quartile range ignores the top and bottom quarters of the data. Extreme values therefore have no effect on it.

  6. 6

    What does the standard deviation measure?

    Model answer

    The standard deviation measures the average distance of the values from the mean. A small value indicates tight clustering and a large value a wide spread.

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