Data Analytics Attributes

Data attributes are the raw material used to create information. Data are facts represented as text, numbers, graphics, images, sound or video.

Raw data is a set of data points without the additional context that would result in information. For example, a set of raw data of weights in pounds for five year old children might look like this:

(40, 52, 41, 43, 38, 42, 46, 39)

Attribute Synonyms

There are a number of words with the same or similar meaning, which apply to individual pieces of data. Some of the more frequently used words are listed here:

• Attribute
• Property
• Characterist
• Data Element
• Field
• Column
• Cell
• Data Point

Classification of Attributes

Attributes can be classified as qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative attributes are descriptive and not subject to mathematica operations. Examples include: gender, city name, nationality and brand preference.

Quantitative attributes are numeric and may be further classified as:

• Nominal: a number that identifies withough implying order such as credit card number or state code.
• Ordinal: a number that identifies and provides sequence, such as the Likert frequently used in surveys: 1=Strongly disagree; 2=Disagree; 3=Neutral; 4=Agree; 5=Strongly agree.
• Interval: a number without "true" zero such as: time of day, credit score and temperature. Multiplication and division do not apply to interval attributes.
• Ratio: a number with "true" zero which is subject to multiplication and division such as: money amounts, counts and weights.