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Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2012-24, Social Research Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/
This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for additions or amendments.
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Heterogeneity
Heterogeneity means literally 'of a different kind'.
Heterogeneity is the opposite of homogenous, which means 'of the same kind'.
The heterogeneity of a group on any given variable is best measured by a statistic such as the coefficient of variation, which expresses the dispersion of the data as a proportion of the mean value. The larger the coefficient of variation, the greater the heterogeneity and the smaller it is, the greater the homogeneity.
BusinessDictionary.com (2016) :
Fundamental characteristic of services which results in variation from one service to another, or variation in the same service from day-to-day or from customer-to-customer. Heterogeneity makes it hard for a firm to standardize the quality of its services. Opposite of homogeneity.
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