Coefficient of VariationΒΆ
When we moved from variance to standard deviation, we were looking to get to units that made sense; however, if we then want to compare the level of dispersion of one data set to another, we would need to have the same units once again.
One way around this is to calculate the coefficient of variation (CV), which is the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean. It tells use how big the standard deviation is relative to the mean and can be used to compare two or more data sets.