Quartile: Difference between revisions

There are methods by which to check for [[outliers]] in the discipline of statistics and statistical analysis. Outliers could be a result from a shift in the location (mean) or in the scale (variability) of the process of interest.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Walfish|first=Steven|date=November 2006|title=A Review of Statistical Outlier Method|url=http://www.statisticaloutsourcingservices.com/|journal=Pharmaceutical Technology}}</ref> Outliers could also be evidence of a sample population that has a non-normal distribution or of a contaminated population data set. Consequently, as is the basic idea of [[descriptive statistics]], when encountering an [[outlier]], we have to explain this value by further analysis of the cause or origin of the outlier. In cases of extreme observations, which are not an infrequent occurrence, the typical values must be analyzed. The [[Interquartile Range]] (IQR), defined as the difference between the upper and lower quartiles (<math display="inline">Q_3 - Q_1 </math>), may be used to characterize the data when there may be extremities that skew the data; the [[interquartile range]] is a relatively [[robust statistic]] (also sometimes called "resistance") compared to the [[Range (statistics)|range]] and [[standard deviation]]. There is also a mathematical method to check for outliers and determining "fences", upper and lower limits from which to check for outliers.

 

 

: <math>\text{Lower fence} = Q_1 - (1.5 \times \mathrm{IQR}) </math>