AO3 - Measures of Dispersion

• One advantage of using the range is that it is easy to calculate as it only uses 2 pieces of data to calculate unlike the standard deviation which is more complicated and time consuming to calculate.
• One disadvantage of using the range is that it can be distorted by freak scores as it only takes into account the highest and lowest scores, so an inaccurate range could be achieved.
• One advantage of using standard deviation is that it is the most precise/sensitive measure of dispersion as it used all scores in calculation making it a more accurate measure of dispersion than the range, which only looks at the smallest and largest data.
• Another advantage of standard deviation is that it is less easily distorted by extreme values as it takes into account the distance of each score from the mean, not just the distance from the highest and lowest score like the range.
• One disadvantage of standard deviation is that it is more complicated and time consuming to calculate unlike the range which is quick and easy.