Categorical Data

My Definition

Key Characteristics

The following are true of categorical data:

  • It represents a characteristic of the population that can be used to classify individuals or objects into one and only one group.

  • It is divided into groups.

  • It has a limited number of categories.

  • It can be summarized by counting the number of observations in each category.

Example

Categorical Data Card Sort Activity


How do you spend the 24 hours in your day? Decide how many hours you spend on each activity and go to this website to graph your day. Which activity do you spend the most time on each day?

Non-example

The following are not examples of categorical data:

  • Miles traveled

  • Test scores

  • Weight

TEKS: K(8)(A), 1(8)(A), 2(10)(A), 2(10)(B), 3(8)(B), 5(9)(A), 6(12)(D)