BS1.2: Types of Variables

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this section you should be able to define types of variables.

VARIABLES:

A sample consists of observations or measurements. Any aspect of an individual that is measured or recorded is called a variable.

It is often useful to define the types of variables, as different statistical methods are applicable to each.

There are two broad categories of variables:

1. Categorical

2. NUMERICAL

Example:

Binary: Exposed and non-exposed categories / Gender: female/male.
Nominal: Classification of disease / Marital status.
Ordinal: Classification according to mild, moderate and severe.
Continuous: Height / Weight / Systolic / Diastolic BP.
Discrete: Number of new TB cases in a month / Number of patients in a clinic.




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General Introduction to Occupational Health: Occupational Hygiene, Epidemiology & Biostatistics by Prof Jonny Myers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa License
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