Chapter 2:  Data

What is data?

Data is information in context

Variables are attributes or characteristics of an individual

object whose value varies from case to case

Data can be categorical or quantitative...

Categorical Data describes a characteristic
-Color: Red, Gold, White
-Size: S, M, L, XL
-Location: S Main St., Barnes and Noble, Aisle 3
Quantitative Data is measurable, numerical and must have units
-Color: 100r, 50g, 25b (RGB values), #FFD700 (Hex)
-Size: 30", 34", 40" (mens waist sizes)
-Location: 41.24,-75.88 (latitude,longitude of HRHS)
Chapter 2:  Data
Consider the variable Gender.

If we use 1 to represent males and 0 to represent females

as we collect data, have we collected categorical or
quantitative data?
No, the data is not measured and has no units

Age (in years) is considered to be a quantitative variable, but

we could also collect as categorical: Child, Adult, Senior
Chapter 2:  Data
Summarizing Data:
• May be verbal, visual, and/or numerical. If possible, the best summaries
will contain all three types.
• Can be represented in a DATA TABLE, as in our class survey. A data
table is merely an arrangement of data.
• Univariate conclusions are made based on one variable
-ex: There are more boys than girls
• Bivariate conclusions are made based on two variables
-ex: Males tend to be more conservative
• Multivariate conclusions are made based on 3+ variables
• A Statistic is a numerical summary of data collected
-ex: <calculate the average # of siblings>
<calculate the average shoe size>
<what is the difference between the person who has visited
the most states and the person who has visited the least>

**including units in your table will help prevent errors such as calculating
an average shoe size for two different scales (men's and women's sizes)
Chapter 2:  Data
Consider the following: 17 , 21 , 44 , 76

Are these data? 

What context might they have? 

Test scores? 

Ages of golfers? 

Uniform Numbers? 

<name another>

Is each categorical or quantitative?

Chapter 2:  Data
Context is important in statistics. Whenever we collect data,
analyze data, or communicate our results, we want to include
context.

The textbook uses "The W's"

Who - The people or things you collect information about
(not those collecting the information)
What - The variables you are interested in
Why - The reason you collect the information
(what you hope to learn or estimate from the data)
When
Where - Help discern how well the data was collected (bias)
hoW
Chapter 2:  Data
Example: p.17 #14

A start-up company is building a database of customers and sales information.

For each customer it records name, ID number, region of the country ( 1=
East, 2 = South, 3 = Midwest, 4 = West ), date of last purchase, amount
of purchase, and item purchased.