The income of a sample has been measured in dollars per year. Which of the following would be the preferred measure of the variation for this variable?
A) The index of qualitative variation
B) The average deviation
C) The quartile deviation
D) The standard deviation

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The standard deviation is the most commonly used and preferred measure of variation for continuous variables like income. It takes into account all of the data points and is a robust measure of variability that is sensitive to outliers. The other options (index of qualitative variation, average deviation, and quartile deviation) are more appropriate for discrete or ordinal data.

The Income of a Sample Has Been Measured in Dollars