2. This section focuses on the variance and standard deviation as indicators of spread, or variability. Another way to describe the spread of a group of scores is in terms of the range—the highest score minus the lowest score. Suppose that in a particular class the oldest student is 39 years of age and the youngest is 19; the range is 20 (that is, 39 - 19 = 20). Psychology researchers rarely use the range because it is such an imprecise way to describe the spread; it does not take into account how clumped together or spread out the scores are within the range.