In this research a coefficient of variation (CVShigh-low) is developed that is calculated from the highest and lowest values in a set of data for samples from skewed distributions. A correction factor is determined such that CVShigh-low is a close estimate of the population coefficient of variation when sampling from three skewed χ2 distributions and three skewed empirical distributions. The empirical distributions are from “real-world” data sets in psychology and education.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BerensonM.LevineO. (1999) Basic business statistics. (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
2.
BerensonM. L.LevineD. M.KrehbielT. C. (2004) Basic business statistics. (9th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
3.
Droit-VoletS. (2002) Scalar timing in temporal generalization in children with short and long stimulus durations. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Section A, 55, 1193–1209.
4.
FredricksS.Van BurenS.WitJ. M.Verloove-VanhorickS. P. (2000) Body index measurements in 1996–7 compared with 1980. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 82, 107–112.
5.
Gunning-DixonF. M.RazN. (2000) The cognitive correlates of white matter abnormalities in normal aging: A quantitative review. Neuropsychology, 14, 224–232.
6.
MicceriT. (1989) The unicorn, the normal curve, and other improbable creatures. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 156–166.
7.
RhielG. S. (1986) The effect of non-normality on the use of the range in estimating the standard deviation. Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, 24, 71.
8.
RhielG. S. (2004) Using the range to calculate the Coefficient of Variation. Psychological Reports, 95, 1043–1049.
9.
SapelliC. (2003) The Chilean voucher system: Some new results and research challenges. Cuadernos de Economia, 40(121), 530–538.
10.
SawilowskyS. S.FahoomeG. F. (2003) Statistics through Montecarlo simulation with FORTRAN. Oak Park, MI: JMASM, Inc.
11.
Statistics Canada. (1998) High school may not be enough: An analysis of results from the School Leavers: Follow-up Survey, 1995. (Cat. No. MP43-380/1998E, Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada) Ottawa: Human Resources Development Canada.
12.
TippettL. H. C. (1925) Range between extreme individuals. Biometrika, 17, 364–387.
13.
WeberE. U.SharoniS.BlaisA. (2004) Predicting risk sensitivity in humans and lower animals: Risk as variance or coefficient of variation. Psychological Review, 111, 430–445.
14.
WinterD. A. (1991) The biomechanics and motor control of human gait. (2nd ed.) Waterloo, Ont.: Education Press, Univer. de Waterloo.