9/22/2020 1.
2 Data: Quantitative Data & Qualitative Data | Introduction to Statistics
Introduction to Statistics
Sampling and Data
1.2 Data: Quantitative Data & Qualitative Data
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9/22/2020 1.2 Data: Quantitative Data & Qualitative Data | Introduction to Statistics
Data may come from a population or from a sample. Small letters like x
or y generally are used to represent data values. Most data can be put
into the following categories:
Qualitative
Quantitative
Quantitative Data Qualitative Data
Quantitative data are the Qualitative data are the
result of counting or result of categorizing or
De nition
measuring attributes of a describing attributes of a
population. population.
Data that Qualitative data are
Quantitative data are
you will generally described by
always numbers.
see words or letters.
Amount of money you
have
Hair color
Height
Blood type
Weight
Examples Ethnic group
Number of people living in
The car a person drives
your town
The street a person lives on
Number of students who
take statistics
Researchers often prefer to use quantitative data over qualitative data
because it lends itself more easily to mathematical analysis. For
example, it does not make sense to nd an average hair color or blood
type.
Quantitative data may be either discrete or continuous.
All data that are the result of counting are called quantitative discrete
data. These data take on only certain numerical values. If you count the
number of phone calls you receive for each day of the week, you might
get values such as zero, one, two, or three.
All data that are the result of measuring are quantitative continuous
data assuming that we can measure accurately. Measuring angles in
pi pi pi 3pi
radians might result in such numbers as , , , pi, , and so
6 3 2 4
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9/22/2020 1.2 Data: Quantitative Data & Qualitative Data | Introduction to Statistics
on. If you and your friends carry backpacks with books in them to school,
the numbers of books in the backpacks are discrete data and the
weights of the backpacks are continuous data.
Example of Quantitative Discrete Data
The data are the number of books students carry in their backpacks. You
sample ve students. Two students carry three books, one student
carries four books, one student carries two books, and one student
carries one book. The numbers of books (three, four, two, and one) are
the quantitative discrete data.
TRY IT
The data are the number of machines in a gym. You sample
ve gyms. One gym has 12 machines, one gym has 15
machines, one gym has ten machines, one gym has 22
machines, and the other gym has 20 machines. What type of
data is this?
Show Answer
Example of Quantitative Continuous Data
The data are the weights of backpacks with books in them. You sample
the same ve students. The weights (in pounds) of their backpacks are
6.2, 7, 6.8, 9.1, 4.3. Notice that backpacks carrying three books can have
di erent weights. Weights are quantitative continuous data because
weights are measured.
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