Question

What are the two types of data scientists collect with the scientific method?

Answer 1

Ans. Data means any information obtained from simple observations and by doing experiments / testing hypothesis. Scientists use data to understand anything and to make decisions.

Scientific method is a step by step problem solving approach which includes observation of a problem, setting a hypothesis about reasion of the problem and testing of the hypothesis by experiments. Scientific methods are used in all sciences.

There are Two broad type of primary data being collected by scientific methods. They are : quantitative data and qualitative data.

Quantitative data are related to mathematical numbers and can be measured like data related to heights, weight, temperature, humidity, population etc. They can also be classified as discrete data related to count ( integers like 1,2,3...) like number of cells in an organism and continuous data related to measurements like your heights from birth to till now. It will include all possible numbers like 1, 1.1, 1.5, 2.3, 2.55,...etc.

Qualitative data are related to quality or description, characteristics and couldn't be measured but observed or felt like taste, smell, behavior etc. They can be binary data like yes/ no, good / bad, true/false , accept / reject etc. Or nominal / unordered data like type of colour, smell, behavior or ordered data related to natural order like small, medium, large.

Secondary data are those data obtained from primary data already published or printed or available by further analysis.