Data is information we use to prove points, support theories or arguments, and solve problems. You may have heard descriptions qualitative and/or quantitative before “data.” But what do they really mean? If you were asked to measure change, quality, or significance with one type of this data or the other, how would you begin? It depends on the context! So let’s examine both.
Quantitative Data
Quantitative data is numerical (uses numbers), and will use calculations such as the mean or the median to determine the center of the data. For more on this, see this document on Central Tendency. Numerical data can be either discrete or continuous
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Discrete data is data that can be counted. It is finite, tangible.
- Examples of discrete data include a total number of puppies (you cannot have half a puppy), an amount of jelly beans in a jar, an amount of people of a certain demographic (ex. 108 female students in a graduating class)
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Continuous data is data that cannot be counted. Continuous data includes anything that is infinite such as time or distance. Both can become smaller and smaller in their increments.
- Temperature ranges, or age ranges would also be considered continuous data as it is a range of numbers and cannot be counted, but can be measured
Qualitative Data
Qualitative data, or non-numerical data will use the mode (or the most frequently occurring number in a set of data) to determine the center of the data. Qualitative data usually consists of observations. Examples would include the color of M&M’s in a bag, or social constructs such as gender, nationality, or race.
Now you Try it! Practice Problems
Example One
A company has a maintenance department who decided to record the current state of parking lots for 7 locations, evaluating them in regards to low, medium, and high need for improvement. Is this qualitative or quantitative? If quantitative, is this continuous or discrete?
Example Two
A Zoo Keeper decides to measure the amount of time in the sun for the animals within his primate exhibit. The records the exact time outside for each animal over 7 days. Is this qualitative or quantitative? If quantitative, is this continuous or discrete?
*Note: this guide may use symbols you aren’t familiar with. View our complete list of Statistics Symbols here.
Example One
Low, medium, and high are descriptive qualifications. This means the evaluation for improvement of parking lots is qualitative in this case.
Example Two
This zoo problem shows a quantitative measurement, because time is numerical.
Additionally, this is a continuous value, because time is not a countable number, but instead a value that continues past an exact whole number, into further decimals.
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