This data can be collected through qualitative methods and research such as interviews, survey questions, observations, focus groups, or diary accounts.Ĭonducting qualitative research involves collecting, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative non-numerical data (like color, flavor, or some other describable aspect).
Qualitative data is defined as non-numerical data such as language, text, video, audio recordings, and photographs. For example, quantitative methods are used to calculate a city’s demographics-how many people live there, their ages, their ethnicities, their incomes, and so on. If the thing you are trying to study or measure can be counted and expressed in numbers, quantitative research is likely most appropriate. Saying uses 0º as a reference point to compare the two temperatures, which is incorrect. Similarly, 40º is not twice as hot as 20º. An SAT score of 700, for instance, is not twice as good as an SAT score of 350, because the scale does not begin at zero. However, this rule does not apply to interval data, which has no zero value.
Ratio data gets its name because the ratio of two measurements can be interpreted meaningfully, whereas two measurements cannot be directly compared with intervals.įor example, something that weighs six pounds is twice as heavy as something that weighs three pounds. Other examples of ratio data are weight, length, height, and concentration. For example, weight in grams is a type of ratio data because it is measured along a continuous scale with equal space between each value, and the scale starts at 0.0. Ratio data has all the properties of interval data, but unlike interval data, ratio data also has a true zero. These numbers can also be called integers.Įxamples of interval data include temperature, since it can move below and above 0. Interval data is always expressed in numbers where the distance between two points is standardized and equal. Interval data is information that can be measured along a continuum, where there is equal, meaningful distance between each point on a scale. The number of right and wrong questions on a testĪ website's bounce rate (percentages can be no less than 0 or great than 100)ĭiscrete data is typically most appropriately visualized with a tally chart, pie chart, or bar graph, which is shown below.Īn example of a line graph representing quantitative dataĬontinuous data can be further broken down into two categories: interval data and ratio data. The number of outs a hitter makes in a baseball game The number of items eggs broken when you drop the carton While discrete data doesn’t have to be represented by whole numbers, there are limitations to how it can be expressed. In reference to quantitative data, discrete data is information that can only take certain fixed values. Continuous data can be further divided into interval data and ratio data. There are two types of quantitative data: discrete and continuous. But these data types can be broken down into more specific categories, too. All quantitative data can be measured numerically, as shown above.