The study compared two ways to measure how spread out numbers are in a group. One way is called standard deviation, which is commonly used but can be influenced by unusual numbers in the group. The other way is called geometric measure, which is not affected by unusual numbers. The researchers found that the geometric measure was more accurate in estimating the average difference from the middle number in different types of groups. This means that the geometric measure is a better choice for showing how spread out numbers are in a group.