Dataisacollectionoffacts,suchasnumbers,words,measurements,observationsorjustdescriptionsofthings.
Datacanbequalitativeorquantitative.
Putsimply:Discretedataiscounted,Continuousdataismeasured
Qualitative:
Quantitative:
Tohelpyourememberthink"QuantitativeisQuantity"
Datacanbecollectedinmanyways.Thesimplestwayisdirectobservation.
Youwanttofindhowmanycarspassbyacertainpointonaroadina10-minuteinterval.
So:standnearthatroad,andcountthecarsthatpassbyin10minutes.
Youmightwanttocountmany10-minuteintervalsatdifferenttimesduringtheday,andondifferentdaystoo!
ACensusiswhenwecollectdataforeverymemberofthegroup(thewhole"population").
ASampleiswhenwecollectdatajustforselectedmembersofthegroup.
Youcanaskeveryone(all120)whattheirageis.Thatisacensus.
Oryoucouldjustchoosethepeoplethataretherethisafternoon.Thatisasample.
Acensusisaccurate,buthardtodo.Asampleisnotasaccurate,butmaybegoodenough,andisaloteasier.
Thesingularformis"datum",sowesay"thatdatumisveryhigh".
"Data"isthepluralsowesay"thedataareavailable",butdataisalsoacollectionoffacts,so"thedataisavailable"isfinetoo.