Variables and Data Collection

Read these sections and complete the questions at the end of each section. This section introduces several types of data and their distinguishing features. You will learn about independent and dependent variables and how common data can be coded and collected.

Variables

Answers


  1. Answer: The qualitative variables are hair color and gender.

  2. The independent variable is handedness. Since there are three types of handedness, the number of levels is 3.

  3.  Athletic ability is the dependent variable.

  4. The variable is discrete because the rating scale contains only 12 points and therefore is not continuous. Athletic ability is a discrete quantitative dependent variable.

  5. The independent variable is the number of hours of sleep.

  6. The dependent variable is the recall score on a memory test.