Basic HTML Version
Q
uantitative
R
easoning &
P
roblem
S
olving
206
© 2014 Pacific Crest
W
hat Do You Already Know?
Tapping into your existing knowledge
1. Think about all the information people have about you. What do they know? What additional
information can they find out about you without asking you?
2. How many surveys have you filled out? What were the purposes of these surveys?
3. Imagine that you’ve chosen to create a survey of your graduating class. What would be interesting
to know about the people in your class? How many questions would you ask? What kind of
questions (quantitative or qualitative for example)? How would you distribute it and then record the
information?
4. Have you ever been interviewed? When is an interview more effective than a survey?
5. Now consider the information you can obtain through an interview or survey and compare it with
what you can learn through observation only. How does the information gained through observation
differ from that gained through an interview?
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using observations instead of a survey?
M
athematical Language
Terms and notation
collecting data
— the systematic recording of data that has been generated through observations,
data measurement devices, electronic transactions, and surveys
error of measurement
— the difference between the actual and observed value of data
generating data
— the process of producing additional data through observing, measuring, surveying,
or inducing a transaction
lookup tables
—
allows for the transformation of the values in a variable based upon a rule table and
produces a replacement value for each element in the variable (normally into a new variable)
qualitative data
— data that is not numerical, and refers to an observed aspect (rather than measured
aspect). Examples include “light yellow” or “John’s books”.
quantitative data
— data of numerical nature that is obtained through measurement.
transaction
—
repeated events between parties (e.g., when a register produces a receipt for your
payment when you checkout) that can be captured, structured, and documented for use and analysis
units of measurement
— real data is usually expressed as a multiple of a basic unit in the system.
Examples of common units of measurement are kilogram, dollar, miles, hour, and miles/hour
I
nformation
What you need to know
R
eadings