Question

Identify the type of variable being discussed in each of the following situations. If the variable is qualitative (categorical), state also whether it is nominal or ordinal; if the variable is quantitative, state also whether it is discrete or continuous.

1) The registrar’s office at a university keeps track of the college to which each student belongs. The possible colleges are “math”, “engineering”, “arts”, “business”, “science”, and “environment”.

2)  A car dealership has three models of car: A, B, and C. The sales data are stored in an Excel spreadsheet. For example, one day of the data set might look like this:

Date                Model

01/01/2020      A
01/01/2020      A
01/01/2020      B
01/01/2020      C

which indicates that on January 1^st 2020, the dealership sold two model As, one model B, and one model C.

3) A recent episode of CBC’s Marketplace focused on locksmith services. The Better Business Bureau provides a ranking of each locksmith within a region. Locksmiths may be rated A, B, C, D, E, or F, with a higher rating (i.e. closer to A) being associated with better service.

4) A company is interested in counting the number of complaints received by the complaint department between 01/01/2019 and 12/31/2019.

Answer 1

1)

colleges - qualitative (categorical)

It is nominal variable because the values of the variables does not have any specific order.

2)

Car models - qualitative (categorical)

It is nominal variable because the values of the variables does not have any specific order.

Sale Date - quantitative and discrete

Count of model sold - quantitative and discrete

3)

ranking of each locksmith - qualitative (categorical)

It is ordinal variable because the values of the variables does not have specific order.

4)

number of complaints  - quantitative and discrete

Complaint date - quantitative and discrete