Question

1. For each of the data described below (a – e) specify whether the data is:

 Quantitative or Categorical

 Continuous, Discrete, or this distinction is not applicable

 Variable or Attribute

 Ratio, Interval, Ordinal, or Nominal

a. Data collected about whether the advice given to a customer who called into a call center resulted in resolution of the customer’s software problem or not

b. The number of customers served each day at the Boehly Café

c. The number gallons of heating oil delivered to residences

d. The country of origin for people who work for a particular company

e. A JD Power listing of the top 10 midsize automobiles in order of consumer feedback

Answer 1

a. Data collected about whether the advice given to a customer who called into a call center resulted in resolution of the customer’s software problem or not:

Here, the data collected would be a simple- Yes / No which represents to different categories.

- Categorical data - Since, 'Continuous and Discrete property' is only for quantitative data,this distinction is not applicable here. - Here, the Resulting of the advice to a customer in resolution of the customer’s software problem is an Attribute that can be either possesed or not. - Since, the data is categorical, distinct, but with no order, we may conclude that the data is Nominal.

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b.

Here, the observations recorded would be numeric (whole numbers), stating the number of customers.Hence, the data here is:

- Quantitative    - As mentioned in above, since, the data can take only finite no. of distinct values, we may say that the data is Discrete.Since - Here, the resulting observations of the number of customers served each day at the Boehly Café may take any discrete value and not a characterestic that is possesed, it is a Variable    - Since, the data is quantitative and No. of customers can never fall below zero, we may conclude that the data is measured in Ratio scale.

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c. The gallons of heating oil delivered to residences:

Here, the observations recorded would be numeric (whole numbers), stating the quantity of heating oil delivered to residences (in gallons).Hence, the data here is:

- Quantitative - Since, observations are numeric in nature - Since, the data is measurable and hence, can take infinite no. of values, is uncountable (including infinite decimal values between any two whole numbers) we may say that the data is Continuous. - Here, the resulting observations of the gallons of heating oil delivered to residences may take any numeric value and not a characterestic that is possesed; hence, it is a Variable - Since, the data is quantitative and No. gallons of heating oil delivered can never fall below zero, we may conclude that the data is measured in Ratio scale.

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d. The country of origin of people who work for a particular company:

Here, the data collected would be the names of the countries from which the employees belong, which represents disctinct categories.

- Categorical data - Since, 'Continuous and Discrete property' is only for quantitative data,this distinction is not applicable here. - Here, the Resulting of the country of origin of people who work for a particular company is an   Attribute that can be possesed i.e. the person can belong to a particular country or not. - Since, the data is categorical, distinct, but with no order, we may conclude that the data is Nominal.

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e. A JD Power listing of the top 10 midsize automobiles in order of consumer feedback

Here, the data collected would be the names of the top 10 midsize automobiles in order of consumer feedback, which represents distinct observations. The data is:

- Categorical data - Since, 'Continuous and Discrete property' is only for quantitative data,this distinction is not applicable here. - Here, the listing of the top 10 midsize automobiles in order of consumer feedback is an Attribute that can be possesed i.e. a firm can either posses the attribute of being listed in the top 10 listing or not. - Since, the data is categorical, distinct, in a particular order, we may conclude that the data is Ordinal.