Data Types

Data Types - Variables.

A variable is any characteristics, number, or quantity that can be measured or counted. Variables may also be called data item. Some examples are height, age, sex, income and expenses, country of residence, examination grades, eye color and vehicle type.

Types of Variables.

Qualitative/Categorical
Categorical variables are those variables that cannot be quantified but fall into a particular category. Some examples are hair color, gender, college major, college attended, political affiliation, and sexual orientation.

Quantitative/Numerical
These are quantifiable variables or numbers. Some examples are age, number of seats in an auditorium, time to complete a task, amount in savings account.

Quantitative variables can be further classified as discrete and continuous.
Discrete Variables - Variables whose values are whole, countable, individualized items. This means they are not necessarily numbers. They are within certain range or quantized. For example, number of siblings, number of credit cards, letter grading system.

Continuous Variables - Variable that may contain any value within a range are called continuous. They are not countable but can only be measured. They could go on forever. For example, Height, Weight, Time to complete a test.