Reference no: EM131095245

Topic: Statistics writing essay

Detailed Question: In week one, you were introduced to categorical, otherwise known as qualitative data. In healthcare, we collect data on many different variables, some of which are categorical while others may be quantitative. A categorical variable places each individual into a category, such as male or female, ethnic origin, educational level, physician or nurse, etc. A quantitative variable has numerical values that measure some characteristic of each individual such as height, weight, body temperature, blood pressure, etc. The values of a quantitative variable are usually recorded in some unit of measurement such as seconds or kilograms. The reason it is important to be able to identify which type of variable you are measuring is because it will determine which statistical test is appropriate to employ when making inferences about the population from your sample data. For example, if you are analyzing data generated from categorical variables, it would not be appropriate to utilize certain tests to determine if a change in the variable is significant or if it simply resulted from chance.

Discuss the difference between categorical and quantitative data. As a healthcare manager, when making a decision based on data, would you prefer to use categorical or quantitative data? Provide rationale for your response.