Standard deviation and Coefficient of Variation are two measures of spread or dispersion among the data values. However, Standard Deviation (SD) can be used only in the measurement of similar things that have the same units. On the other hand, the Coefficient of Variation (CV) is mainly used to make a comparison of the dispersion of different of data types. Generally Standard Deviation is the square root of the variance. It is used to give useful information regarding "normal distribution" – It gives a standardized means of understanding how data within a unit is spread. Therefore, when comparing SDs of two data sets, we will need to use the same units.
The Coefficient of Variation simply expresses the Standard Deviation as a percentage of the mean. It is given as the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean. The CV comes in handy when comparing results from two different tests or surveys that have different values or measures.
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You can also use Excel to calculate the coefficient of variation using the standard deviation and mean.
For this discussion question, we will use two data sets, where we will calculate the SD and CV for each on an Excel spreadsheet. We will then make a comparison to check which one is the best means of checking for the spread of a dataset. The Excel sheet with the data sets has been attached. Coefficient of Variation (CV) is preferred over standard deviation (CD) in cases where the sample size is too large. In such cases, CV is more efficient compared to SD when it comes to comparing method performance in a given data set.
