Qualitative Variables

Categorical Variable

Also known as categorical variables, qualitative variables are variables with no natural sense of ordering. They are therefore measured on a nominal scale. For instance, hair color (Black, Brown, Gray, Red, Yellow) is a qualitative variable, as is name (Adam, Becky, Christina, Dave . . .). Qualitative variables can be coded to appear numeric but their numbers are meaningless, as in male=1, female=2. Variables that are not qualitative are known as quantitative variables.