Types of Data
Data can be divided into two categories; that is qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data are non-numerical, descriptive, and nominal in nature; this means data collected in the form of sentences and words. Conversely, quantitative data is statistical or numerical in nature, which can be mathematically worked out and computed (Kornegay, &, Segal, n. d). Also, quantitative data measure utilizes various scales that can be classified as ordinary proportions, nominal scale, ratio scale, and interval scale. The ordinary scale is used to measure ranks of the data such as very good, excellent, or poor. The interval scale is used to gauge the order in units of equal intervals. Further, the nominal scale is used to classify items into various groups, such as female and male, different races in a nation, various shoe sizes, and different types of companies.
Sources of data
In general, data can be collected from two sources, secondary sources, and primary sources. Therefore, the data gathered from secondary sources are known as secondary data, and the primary data is collected from primary sources (Kornegay, &, Segal, n. d). Additionally, secondary data are data acquired from secondary sources like documents, magazines, the internet, journals, books, and reports. Conversely, primary data are obtained or collected from the original source either in the uncontrolled or controlled environment. An example of a controlled environment is investigational pr experimental research, where the investigator is controlling some variables. However, data acquired from questionnaires and observations are examples of data obtained from the uncontrolled environment.
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