Statistics
Study of collecting, organizing and interpretin data
Individual
A person or object in the study
Variable
Characteristic of the individual to be observed or measured
Quantitative variable
Variable that quantifies (assigns a numerical value)
Qualitative variable
Variable that categorizes or describes
Population
Every individual of interest
Sample
A subset of the population (some of the individuals of interest)
Nominal data
Data consisting of only names or qualities - no numerical values
Ordinal data
Data that has an order but differences between data values are meaningless
Interval data
Data that has an order, meaningful differences, but may or may not have a starting point which makes ratios meaningless
Ratio data
Data with the same characteristics as interval data but with a starting point which makes ratios meaningful
Descriptive statistics
The practice of collecting, organizing, and summarizing information from samples or populations
Inferential statistics
The practice of interpreting sample values gained from descriptive techniques and drawing conclusions about the population