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Chapter One
The Nature of
Probability and Statistics

Section 2
Variables and Types of Data

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 Learning Objectives

• Identify types of data.

• Identify the measurement level for

each variable.

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 Qualitative and Quantitative Variables

A qualitative variable is a variable that has distinct

categories according to some characteristic or attribute.

• These are sometimes called categorical variables.

• Qualitative variables generally have non-numerical values. For

example, the birth month (January, February, etc.), hometown,
and favorite color of a person are qualitative.

A quantitative variable is a variable that can be counted or

measured.

• The values of quantitative variables are always numerical. For

example, a person’s age, height, and weight are quantitative.

• Because the values are numerical, you can sort them from
smallest to largest.

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 Discrete and Continuous Variables

Quantitative variables can be further classified as discrete

or continuous.

A discrete variable assumes values that can be counted,

or assigned values such as 1, 2, 3 and so on.

• The number of children in a family, or the number of cars in a

parking lot are discrete variables.

A continuous variable assumes values within an interval,

and can have infinitely many values between any two
specific values. They are obtained by measuring. They
often include fractions or decimals.

• Height is a continuous variable. Given any two people of

different heights, you could find a person taller than one, but
shorter than the other.

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 Variables and Types of Data: Overview

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 Discrete or Continuous?

Which of these variables are discrete and which are continuous?

• Hours of YouTube watched per day.

• Number of books read in a year.

• Number of apples on a tree.

• Weight of a delivery truck.

Hours of YouTube watched per day is continuous. Hours is measured, and the
possible values could be fractional (4.3 hours, for example).

Number of books is discrete, because it is counted (19 books, not 19.3 books).

Number of apples on a tree is discrete, because it is counted.

Weight of a deliver truck is continuous, because it is measured.

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 Continuous Variables and Class Boundaries

• Continuous variables must be measured, and so the values

must be rounded due to the limits of the measuring device.
For example, weight could be rounded to the nearest
pound.

• The boundary of a number is the class of values in which

the data value would fall before being rounded.

• For example, the boundary of 112.3 pounds is 112.25–

112.35 pounds because any weight greater than or equal to
112.25 pounds and less than 112.35 pounds would be
recorded as 112.3.

• Note that 112.35 would be rounded to 112.4 and so is in the

class 112.35–112.45.

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 Examples of Class Boundaries

• If the temperature outside is recorded as 73° Fahrenheit,

the boundaries are 72.5°–73.5° Fahrenheit.

• If the length of a frog is recorded as 17.9 cm, the

boundaries are 17.85 cm–17.95 cm.

• If a runner finishes a race with a time of 13:01.6, the

boundaries are 13:01.55–13:01.65.

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 Measurement Scales

• In addition to being classified as quantitative or qualitative,

variables can be classified by how they are categorized,
counted, or measured.

• There are four common measurement scales used to

classify variables.

• Qualitative variables can have the nominal level of

measurement or the ordinal level of measurement.

• Quantitative variables can have the interval level of

measurement or the ratio level of measurement.

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 Nominal and Ordinal

The nominal level of measurement classifies data into

mutually exclusive (non-overlapping) categories in which
there is no natural order or ranking of the categories.

• A person’s favorite color is a nominal-level measurement. You

could order colors (alphabetically, for example), but there is no
significance to that ordering.

The ordinal level of measurement classifies data into

categories that can be ranked; however, precise differences
between the ranks do not exist.

• A person could win first, second or third place in a race, but

the difference between first and second place is not the same
as the difference between second and third place.

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 Interval and Ratio

The interval level of measurement ranks data, and

precise differences between units of measure do exist, but
there is no meaningful zero. Ratios of values are not
meaningful.

• Temperature is an interval-level measurement. 80° F is 20°

warmer than 60° F, but 60° F is not twice as warm as 30° F,
and 0° F does not mean zero temperature.

The ratio level of measurement possesses all the

characteristics of interval measurement, and there is a true
zero. As a result, ratios of data values are meaningful.

• Weight is a ratio-level measure. 100 grams is twice as much

as 50 grams, and something that weighs 0 grams weighs 0
using any other unit of measuring weight.

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 Which Measurement Scale?
• Zip code

• Pizza size

• SAT scores

• Age

Zip code is nominal-level data. Even though a Zip code is represented as a

number, it doesn’t make sense to say 63021 is a greater Zip code than
11050.

Pizza size is ordinal-level data. A small pizza is smaller than a medium

pizza, which is smaller than a large pizza, but it doesn’t make sense to talk
about the difference of a large and a medium pizza.

SAT scores are interval-level data. It makes sense to say 1450 is 200
points more than 1250, but not to say that 1300 is twice as good as 650.

Age is ratio-level data. There is an obvious age 0, regardless of units, and

it makes sense to say a 30-year-old is twice as old as a 15-year-old.
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 Discrete or Continuous?

Which of these variables are discrete and which are continuous?

• Hours of YouTube watched per day.

• Number of books read in a year.

• Number of apples on a tree.

• Weight of a delivery truck.

Hours of YouTube watched per day is continuous. Hours is measured, and the
possible values could be fractional (4.3 hours, for example).

Number of books is discrete, because it is counted (19 books, not 19.3 books).

Number of apples on a tree is discrete, because it is counted.

Weight of a deliver truck is continuous, because it is measured.

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 Measurement Scale Hierarchy

• Notice that the measurement scales improve on each other.

Ratio-level data is interval-level data, interval-level data is
ordinal-level data, and ordinal-level data is nominal-level
data.

Variable Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio Level

Hair Color Yes No Nominal
Zip Code Yes No Nominal
Letter Grade Yes Yes No Ordinal
ACT Score Yes Yes Yes No Interval
Height Yes Yes Yes Yes Ratio
Age Yes Yes Yes Yes Ratio
Temperature Yes Yes Yes No Interval
(F)

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