When you run a business, it’s important to keep on top of your data management. But what types of business data are there? Let’s take a look at the main categories.
1. Ordinal data
This kind of data has a specific order attached, combining quantitative and nominal information types. The distinct order is there but it acts as a label. You can’t calculate any of the values in the list. The main objective of this type of data is to show how a certain subject is either performing or working in relation to something else.
For example, the outcome of a running race, showing who finished first, second, etc, would be ordinal data. In a business, a data collection company such as https://shepper.com/ might use ordinal data to rank customer shopping experiences.
2. Discrete data
This kind of quantitative data can’t be divided into parts as it only works with whole numbers. For example, it could show how many people are in a group. Every individual is one person, and a person cannot be split into a fraction! This type of data is often used for inventory checking and assessing.
3. Continuous data
This type of data can be divided into parts such as fractions, but it keeps its meaning. For example, you could measure time in years, or split it into other units of measurement, such as seconds, minutes, days or weeks. This type of data is great when you’re focusing on specifics, such as production weight for shipping costs.
4. Interval data
This type of data combines variables both by order and by the differences between them. They’re measured on a scale, which means that negative values can be included. An example of this could be a demographic survey that includes income data by increments or brackets.