Data in the narrowest meaning are collected and recorded data, describing reality. In the concept of informatics, that is about the physically recorded observations of reality, facts, findings, skills and knowledge.
One of the basic structures divides the data to:
- Quantitative-numerical characteristics of the given phenomenon (e.g. price, size, weight,…), sometimes the term “hard” data is used
- Qualitative - non-numeric characteristics of the given phenomenon (e.g. customer satisfaction), sometimes the term “soft” data is used
In the concept of statistics, the data (or variables) are usually classified according to the type of relations between the values of:
- Nominal - the nominal values of two variables can be said whether they are identical or different (e.g. manufacturer, model, type …)
- Ordinal - as nominal values, in addition for the two extra ordinal variables, we can determine the order (e.g. the degree of customer satisfaction, product quality evaluation, …)
- Cardinal - numeric variables, this group of variables is further divided into:
- Differential (Interval) - as ordinal, in addition you can determine how much more is one value than the other
- Ratio - as a differential, in addition you can calculate how many times is one value more than the other
Nominal and ordinal variables belong into the qualitative data. Differential and ratio variables belong into the quantitative data.
By data interpretation and their relationships are formed information.
Related terms and methods:
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