Interpretation of MAD and Interquartile Range

[traceylboh1]

Do you have any examples of what is expected of students for interpreting the MAD and Interquartile range of data? Is it only expected that students interpret data when comparing two data sets or should they be able to interpret a single data set?

[Bill McCallum]

Interesting question. Even when you are interpreting a single data set you probably have some reference data set in mind. If you look at a data set and say to yourself “that data set is very variable (as indicated by its MAD or IQR)” you are implicitly comparing it to a standard data set in your mind that has a smaller “normal” variability. So the point of this standard is to make such comparisons explicit. But that doesn’t mean you would never ask a student to comment on a single data set.

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