Types of Data

Data (at least for purposes of Statistics) fall into two main groups:

Metric Non Metric

1- Interval 1- Nominal

2- Ratio 2- Ordinal

Metric Data (Quantitative)

1- Interval: zero point does not mean the same thing. (Temperature), you can
add and subtract only.
2- Ratio: One zero point. (Real numbers, i.e. heights, weights, prices, etc),
Arithmetic operations can be performed on Interval Data, thus its
meaningful to talk about 2*Height, or Price + $1, and so on.

Non Metric Data (Qualitative)

1- Nominal: The values of nominal data are categories.
E.g. responses to questions about marital status, coded as:
Single = 1, Married = 2, Divorced = 3, Widowed = 4
These data are categorical in nature; arithmetic operations don’t make
any sense (e.g. does Married ÷ 2 = single?!)
2- Ordinal: Ordinal Data appear to be categorical in nature, but their values
have an order; a ranking to them:
E.g. College course rating system:
poor = 1, fair = 2, good = 3, very good = 4, excellent = 5
While it’s still not meaningful to do arithmetic on this data (e.g. does 2*fair
= very good?!), we can say things like:
Excellent > poor or fair < very good
That is, order is maintained no matter what numeric values are assigned
to each category.
 Time Series vs. Cross Sectional Designs
• Time series design usually contrasted to cross-sectional designs
where the data is collected at the same time for every observation.
• Thus:
• A data set consisting of some countries in North Africa for the
year 1998 is a cross-sectional design.
• A data set consisting of data for Egypt for 1948 – 1998 is a
time series design.
• If you wish to explain why one country is different from another, use
a cross-sectional design. If you wish to explain why a particular
country has changed over time, use a time series design.

• A panel data (pooled data) is a time series Cross-Sectional design.

• Time-series data are not independent of each other

• Not a random sample
• Does not satisfy the random-sample assumption for
confidence intervals or hypothesis testing.
• Regression models assume that all causation is immediate but time
series models depend on the fact that behaviors are dynamic - they
develop over time.

• Regressing one Time series variable on another often gives high t-

values even though theoretically there may not be any logical
relationship between the two.
• Eg: GDP and height of a 1 year old child
GINI index /Y
ArgentinaArmenia Bangladesh Belarus Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Chile ColombiaCosta RiCote
ca d'IvoireCroatiDomia nican Republ
Egypt, Arab
ic Rep.
El SalvadorGeorgia GuatemalaHonduras HungaryIndonesiIran,a Islamic Rep.
1984 . . 2.59E+01 . . 5.79E+01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1985 . . . . . 5.95E+01 . . . . 4.12E+01 . . . . . . . . . .
1986 4.45E+01 . 2.69E+01 . 5.17E+01 . . . . 3.45E+01 3.86E+01 . 4.78E+01 . . . . 5.51E+01 . . 4.74E+01
1987 . . . . . 5.93E+01 . 5.64E+01 . . 4.04E+01 . . . . . 5.83E+01 . 2.10E+01 3.31E+01 .
1988 . . . 2.28E+01 . . . . 5.31E+01 . 3.69E+01 2.28E+01 . . . . . . . . .
1989 . . 2.89E+01 . . 6.34E+01 2.34E+01 . 5.36E+01 . . . 5.05E+01 . 4.90E+01 . 5.96E+01 5.95E+01 2.51E+01 . .
1990 . . . . . 6.07E+01 . 5.55E+01 . 4.57E+01 . . . . . . . 5.74E+01 . . 4.36E+01
1991 . . . . 4.20E+01 . . . 5.13E+01 . . . . 3.20E+01 . . . . . . .
1992 4.54E+01 . 2.83E+01 . . 5.79E+01 3.08E+01 5.58E+01 . 4.70E+01 . . 5.14E+01 . . . . 5.45E+01 . . .
1993 . . . 2.16E+01 . 5.98E+01 . . . 4.63E+01 3.69E+01 . . . . . . . 2.79E+01 3.44E+01 .
1994 . . . . . . 2.43E+01 5.52E+01 . . . . . . . . . 5.52E+01 . . 4.30E+01
1995 . . . 2.88E+01 . 6.15E+01 3.11E+01 . 5.72E+01 . 3.67E+01 . . 3.26E+01 4.99E+01 . . . . . .
1996 4.86E+01 4.44E+01 3.30E+01 . . 6.00E+01 3.50E+01 5.51E+01 5.70E+01 4.71E+01 . . 4.87E+01 . 5.23E+01 3.71E+01 . . . 3.66E+01 .
1997 . . . 2.56E+01 5.85E+01 5.99E+01 2.64E+01 . . 4.59E+01 . . 4.96E+01 . 5.08E+01 3.61E+01 . 5.31E+01 . . .
1998 4.98E+01 . . 2.80E+01 . 5.52E+01 . 5.57E+01 5.82E+01 4.81E+01 4.38E+01 2.68E+01 . . 5.22E+01 3.74E+01 5.57E+01 . 2.49E+01 3.84E+01 4.41E+01
1999 . 3.60E+01 . . 5.78E+01 5.92E+01 . . 5.79E+01 . . 2.77E+01 . . . 3.81E+01 . 5.15E+01 2.78E+01 3.17E+01 .
2000 . . 3.34E+01 3.04E+01 . . . 5.54E+01 5.75E+01 4.66E+01 . 3.13E+01 5.21E+01 3.44E+01 5.19E+01 3.89E+01 5.50E+01 . 2.73E+01 3.03E+01 .
2001 5.22E+01 3.62E+01 . 3.07E+01 . 5.93E+01 3.43E+01 . . 5.00E+01 . 3.11E+01 . . . 3.69E+01 . . 2.69E+01 . .
2002 5.25E+01 3.57E+01 . 2.97E+01 6.01E+01 5.88E+01 . . . . 4.46E+01 . . . 5.24E+01 4.03E+01 5.53E+01 . 2.68E+01 3.43E+01 .
2003 5.13E+01 3.38E+01 . . . 5.81E+01 2.92E+01 5.49E+01 5.88E+01 4.98E+01 . . 5.19E+01 . . 4.04E+01 . 5.38E+01 . . .
2004 5.13E+01 . . . . 5.70E+01 . . 5.62E+01 4.82E+01 . . 5.16E+01 3.44E+01 . . 4.94E+01 . 3.01E+01 . .
2005 . . 3.32E+01 2.80E+01 . 5.66E+01 . . . . . 2.90E+01 4.99E+01 . . 4.08E+01 . . . 3.94E+01 3.84E+01