What does the interquartile range describe?A) The ranges of the lower 25% and the upper 25% of the observationsB) The range of the upper 50% of the observationsC) The range of the middle 50% of the observationsD) The range of the lower 50% of the observations
The correct answer is C) The range of the middle 50% of the observations
The correct answer is C) The range of the middle 50% of the observations.
The interquartile range is a measure of statistical dispersion that describes the spread of the middle portion of a dataset. It is calculated by subtracting the first quartile (Q1) from the third quartile (Q3) of the dataset.
The quartiles divide a dataset into four equal parts: Q1 represents the value below which 25% of the observations lie, Q3 represents the value below which 75% of the observations lie, and the middle 50% of the observations lie between Q1 and Q3. The interquartile range, therefore, captures the range of values within this middle 50% of the data.
By focusing on the middle portion of the data, the interquartile range is less affected by extreme values or outliers that may be present in a dataset. This makes it a useful measure in analyzing skewed or non-normal distributions.
In conclusion, the interquartile range describes the range of the middle 50% of the observations in a dataset, providing a measure of how spread out the values are within that range.
More Answers:
Understanding Measures of Dispersion | Range, Standard Deviation, and Interquartile RangeUnderstanding Skewness in Probability Distributions | When the Coefficient of Skewness is Zero
Understanding Measures of Central Tendency | Median, Mode, and Mean