Data types
To know what ways you can organize your data, you need to know about the type of data that you have. There are a handful of different ways to talk about your data, so let’s pick out at random.
The two major categories are qualitative/categorical and quantitative/numeric. Categorical fall into discrete categories (of course), of which there are only a certain number. Quantitative, on the other hand, are numeric, and there could in theory be an infinite number of them.
Name | Category | Description | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Nominal | Categorical | Distinct, unordered categories | Chevy, Toyota, Honda |
Ordinal | Categorical | Distinct categories, but ordered | Poor, middle-class, wealthy |
Discrete | Quantitative | Integers only | Number of people in a household |
Continuous | Quantitative | Can take on any value | Weight |
Bertin generally thinks of them as nominal, ordinal and quantitative, though, so you might stick to that instead.