Anyone understand Coefficient of Variation?

[Free4Life11]

I understand how to get it (Standard Deviation / Mean) X 100 = Coefficient of Variation %

I'm just don't really GET it. The way I understood it is, the smaller the coefficient of variation, the more spread out the data is?

Anyone understand it? I've been to so many websites but they don't go beyond saying how to find the numerical value, which I already know how to do. But I'm confused as how I interpret this.

 

[bajanswife]

The CV measures how far away the data is from the mean (i.e. it's "scatter")i.e. a high CV means that the data range is quite wide (the far ends of the range are far away from the mean value). A low CV then means that the far ends of the range are close to the mean i.e. the data doesn't vary very much from the mean (data scatter is small). Makes sense?

ETA: the formula used takes the SD, which the "distance away from the mean" in effect and calculates it as a % of the mean itself. So, if for data set A the mean is 10 and the SD is 4, and the CV is 40%, and for data set B the mean is 10 but the SD is 2, and the CV is 20%, it is clear that data set B's data doesn't vary as much from its mean as data set A's.

 

[Free4Life11]

Hey thanks for that explanation! Our book neglected to put it in simple terms, this I totally understand. Thanks!!!!

 

[bajanswife]

You're welcome!