The distributions discussed so far are all raw score distributions, and give information about the incidence of scores in an absolute sense. In the stem and leaf example above, imagine that the scores are the results of 24 students on an exam. So far we have been concerned only with the distribution of scores on a single variable. The direction of skew is the direction in which the arrow points. Thereare several different measures of central tendency available, and these will be described in the next lecture.
Dispersion describes how spread out the scores are across the range of values.
As with central tendency, several measures of dispersion are available, also to be discussed in the next lecture. This is a personal page published by the author. The ideas and information expressed on it have not been approved or authorised by Monash University either explicitly or impliedly. In no event shall Monash University be liable for any damages whatsoever resulting from any action arising in connection with the use of this information or its publication, including any action for infringement of copyright or defamation.