Data Collection

Data is a collection of facts that can be measured or translated. Data may consist of words, numbers, observations, descriptions of things, and measurements. Data may be qualitative or quantitative. “Qualitative data is descriptive information that describes something. Quantitative data is continuous measurements of numerical information” (Lind, Marchal, & Wathen, 2011, p. 9). Data can be collected in many ways but the simplest way is direct observation. Understanding data analysis helps people to make an informed decision.

Team A has been tasked with analyzing the Excel data set of freshmen’s weight both before and after their first semester at a leading state university. The freshmen lived in either an on-campus
This information collected in the research will conclude that some of the collected information is discrete and continuous and it could also be quantitative and qualitative.

Research shows that the data utilized by Team A is quantitative data. Quantitative data is data that can be measured including humidity, temperature, sound levels, height, and weight. The most important aspect of quantitative data that separates it from qualitative is the fact that quantitative data involves numbers. Quantitative is more quantity based where qualitative is more focused on the quality. Team A research involved the difference of weight of freshmen at a leading university that lived on campus versus a private off campus dorm. Their initial weight was recorded at the beginning of a semester and then recorded and compared at the end of that semester.

The variables used by Team A consist of continuous data. Continuous data can occupy any rate over a continuous range because it is not restricted to a defined set of values. The freshmen’s initial weight at the beginning of the semester had the possibility of fluctuation and was not set therefore the ending weight was not defined either. The level of measurement that was utilized by Team A was the interval/ratio level. This level uses numbers as a means to express quantities. For example, the initial weight of the freshmen compared to their weight at the end of the semester. Their weight is used