Module 16: Background You’ll Need 5

  • Identify categorical and quantitative variables
  • Categorical variable is a variable that categorizes or describes attributes of a population.
  • Quantitative variable is a variable that is counting or measuring attributes of a population.

Students in an introductory statistics class at The University of Queensland participated in a simple experiment. [1]

The variables in the data set are:

Variable Description
ID Identification number
Height Height in centimeters (cm)
Weight Weight in kilograms (kg)
Age Age in years
Sex Male/female
Smokes Are you a regular smoker? (yes/no)
Alcohol Are you a regular drinker? (yes/no)
Exercise What is your frequency of exercise? (low, moderate, high)
GroupAssignment Whether the student ran or sat between the first and second pulse measurements
Pulse1 First pulse measurement (rate per minute)
Pulse2 Second pulse measurement (rate per minute)
Year Year of class (1993–1998)

  1. Wilson, R. J. (n.d.). Pulse rates before and after exercise. StatSci.org. http://www.statsci.org/data/oz/ms212.html