Statistics Eight

Variable

A variable is a condition or quality that can vary from one case to another.

Measurement or Observation

It is the process of determining and recording which of the possible traits of a variable an
individual case exhibits or possesses.

Example:

The variable gender has two possible traits, female and male, and the measurement
involves deciding which of these two categories a given person falls into.

These measurements or observations of a variable are the raw data of research and are
taken from units of analysis we term cases.

What is cases?

A case is an entity that displays or possesses the traits of a variable.

Types of variable

Qualitative

Quantitative

Qualitative variable

a nonnumerically-valued variable.

Examples: gender, marital status,

eye color, etc.

Quantitative variable

a numerically valued variable.

Examples: height, weight, number of siblings, etc.

Classification of quantitative variable

1. Discrete variable
 - is one whose possible values form a finite (countable infinite) set of numbers.

Example: number of siblings of a person.

Classification of quantitative variable

2. Continuous variable

-is a variable whose possible values form some interval of numbers.

Example: height of a person.

Data? What's that?

It is the information collected, organized and analyzed by statistician.

Note:

* The terms qualitative, quantitative, discrete and continuous are used to describe data as
well as variables.

Brain Cracking!!!

1. A businessperson wants to know the number of families with preteen children in Manila.

2. A quality-control engineer measures the lifetime of fluorescent lamps.

3. A sociologist needs to estimate the average annual income of the residents of Makati.

4. A manufacturer of sporting goods classifies each major league baseball player as either right-
handed or left-handed and counts the number of players in each category.

5. An administrator wants to know how many of his faculty joined the peoples rally in
Mendiola.

Discrete or Continuous?

1. The number of the faces of a die

2. The weight of a newborn baby

3. The time at sunset

4. The number of cars in the parking lot

5. The amount of water consumed by a household per day