Statistics involve different types of data, and it is important to understand the differences between them. The main types of data used by statisticians include categorical, continuous, discrete, and ordinal data.
- Categorical data is used to classify information according to categories. Examples of categorical data include gender, zip code, nationality, and marital status.
- Continuous data is data that can be measured or quantified. Examples of continuous data include temperature, weight, height, and time.
- Discrete data is data that can only take on certain values. Examples of discrete data include counts of items or people, or any other data that can only be represented in whole numbers.
- Ordinal data is data that can be ordered according to rank or importance. Examples of ordinal data include rankings or ratings, such as a student’s test score or a movie’s star rating.
The type of data used in a statistical analysis will depend on the type of question being asked. Understanding the types of data used in statistics is an important part of successful data analysis.
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