Types of data

TYPES OF DATA

By Sharon Rummins

Learning objectives

◮ To be able to classify data as categorical or numerical.
◮ To be able to classify categorical data as nominal or ordinal. ◮ To be able to classify numerical data as discrete or continuous.

Multiple Choice

Weight of babies

• Categorical

• Numerical

Multiple Choice

Income

• Categorical

• Numerical

Multiple Choice

Favourite football team

• Categorical

• Numerical

Multiple Choice

Star rating of a hotel

• Categorical

• Numerical

Multiple Choice

Type of car

• Categorical

• Numerical

Multiple Choice

Choosing a favourite pet from ‘dog’, ‘cat’, ‘bird’ or ‘other’

• Categorical

• Numerical

Multiple Choice

The time taken to solve a puzzle in seconds is recorded.

• Categorical

• Numerical

Multiple Choice

A group of people record their level of happiness as ‘very happy’, ‘happy’, ‘not too happy’ or ‘very unhappy’

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

Multiple Choice

Selecting your favourite country to visit.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

Multiple Choice

The number of children in the family is recorded for all the students in a school.

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Multiple Choice

The birth weight of babies measured in grams is recorded at hospital.

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Poll

WHICH CATEGORY DO YOU THINK (poll)?

Asking how often someone exercises - never, once a month, once a week, every day.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Poll

WHICH CATEGORY DO YOU THINK (poll)?

Finding out the number of computers per household as collected during a census.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Poll

WHICH CATEGORY DO YOU THINK (poll)?

Asking which language will be studied next year - French, Spanish, Mandarin or none.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Poll

WHICH CATEGORY DO YOU THINK (poll)?

Finding the volume of petrol used to fill a car tank.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Multiple Choice

WHICH CATEGORY?

The number of students in each of 10 classes is counted

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Multiple Choice

WHICH CATEGORY?

The time taken for 20 mice to each complete a maze is recorded in seconds.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Multiple Choice

WHICH CATEGORY?

Diners at a restaurant were asked to rate how they felt about their meal as 1= Very satisfied, 2 = Satisfied, 3 = Indifferent, 4 = Dissatisfied, 5 = Very dissatisfied.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Multiple Choice

WHICH CATEGORY?

Students select a colour from the list 1= Blue, 2 = Green, 3 = Red, 4 = Yellow.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Multiple Choice

WHICH CATEGORY?

Students heights were classified as ‘<160 cm’, ‘160 cm–180 cm’ or ‘>180 cm’.

• CATEGORICAL

  Nominal

• CATEGORICAL

  Ordinal

• NUMERICAL

  Discrete

• NUMERICAL

  Continuous

Word Cloud

Did you achieve the learning objectives?

Can you

classify data as categorical or numerical, nominal or ordinal and discrete or continuous?