A researcher wants to use a robust statistic to decribe the

A researcher wants to use a robust statistic to decribe the spread of a sample of data on incomes from young professionals in Seattle, WA. Which of the following is robust and why?

I don\'t understand what robust means?

a. the range

b. standard deviation

c. the variance

d. coefficient of variation

e. none of the above

Solution

A researcher wants to use a robust statistic to decribe the spread of a sample of data on incomes from young professionals in Seattle, WA. Which of the following is robust and why?

Robust means being less affected by the type of distribution that there is. The range will be affected by extreme values, and so is the variance and standard deviation.

However, the coefficient of variation is less affected because the effect in the standard deviation is countered by the effect on the mean.

Hence, it is the coefficient of variation that is robust. [ANSWER, D]