Python function for IQV (The index of qualitative variation)
The index of qualitative variation (IQV) is a measure of variability for nominal variables, such as race, ethnicity, or gender. These kinds of variables divide people by categories that cannot be ranked, unlike a variable measure of income or education, which can be measured from high to low. The IQV is based on the ratio of the total number of differences in the distribution to the maximum number of possible differences in the same distribution.
How To Calculate The IQV
The formula for the index of qualitative variation is:
IQV = K(100^2 – Σ(Pct^2)) / 100^2(K – 1)
Where K is the number of categories in the distribution and ΣPct2 is the sum of all squared percentages in the distribution. There are four steps, then, to calculating the IQV:
1. Construct a percentage distribution.
2. Square the percentages for each category.
3. Sum the squared percentages.
4. Calculate the IQV using the formula above.
Special thanks to Ashley Crossman, Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D. via Index of Qualitative Variation