SOAN 3120 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Exploratory Data Analysis, Time Series

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology and Anthropology
• Course: SOAN 3120
• Professor: Andrew Hathaway

Document Summary

Data includes information about some group of individuals (usually people, but can also be animals or things) Categorical variables: places and individual into one of several groups or categories. Sex: quantitative variables: take numerical values for which arithmetic operations such as adding and averaging make sense. Most data tables are laid out in a spreadsheet, where each row is an individual, and each column is a variable. 1. 2 categorical variables: pie charts and bar graphs. Exploratory data analysis: using statistical tools and ideas to examine data in order to describe their main features. Two main principles to organizing the exploration of data: begin by examining each variable by itself. Then move on to study the relationships among the variables: begin with a graph or graphs. Then add numerical summaries of specific aspects of the data. The proper choice of graph depends on the nature of the variable.