2. Types of Data
Ordinal
Categorical
Nominal
Data
Discrete
Numerical
Continuous
K McMullen 2012
3. Types of Data
Categorical
Ordinal: Data with ordered qualities, eg. Football
ladder
Nominal: Data without order, eg. Species of fish
Numerical
Discrete: Data with quantities that are counted,
eg. number of students in year 12
Continuous: Data where quantities are measured,
eg. Height of students
K McMullen 2012
4. Types of Data
Univariate Data: Data with one variable (the
information deals with only one quantity that
changes)
Example: comparing the height of students in the
class
Bivariate: Data with two variables (the
information deals with two quantities that
change)
Example: analysing the relationship between
hours of sleep and test scores
Remember: Uni= One, Bi=Two
K McMullen 2012
5. Types of Data
Which graph do I use?
Bar Chart: Categorical Data or discrete numerical data (one
variable)
Segmented bar chart: Categorical Data or discrete numerical
data (one or two variables)
Histogram: Medium to large sets of discrete and continuous
numerical data (one variable)
Stem Plot: Small to medium sets of numerical data (one or two
variables)
Dot plot: small sets of categorical or discrete numerical data
(one variable)
Box plot: discrete or continuous numerical data (one to two
variables)
Scatter plot: discrete or continuous numerical data (two
variables)
More information regarding the different graphs will be
provided in the following slideshow K McMullen 2012
