PART 1: SUMMARIZATION 1: BUILDING BLOCKS OF DATA ANALYSIS
- Descriptive statistics refers to methods for summarizing and organizing the information in a data set.
Consider Table A.1, which we will use to illustrate some statistical concepts.
- The entities for which information is collected are called the elements. In Table A.1, the elements are the 10 applicants. Elements are also called cases or subjects.
- A variable is a characteristic of an element, which takes on different values for different elements. The variables in Table A.1 are marital status, mortgage, income, rank, year, and risk. Variables are also called attributes.
- The set of variable values for a particular element is an observation. Observations are also called records. The observation for Applicant 2 is:
Applicant Marital Status Mortgage Income ($) Income Rank Year Risk 2 Married Yes 32,000 7 2010 Good - Variables can be either qualitative or quantitative.
- A qualitative variable enables the elements to...