17B Coreq

In the next preview assignment and in the next class, you will need to be able to identify categorical and quantitative variables, along with understanding the possible values of categorical variables.
Categorical and Quantitative Variables
Recall that students in an introductory statistics class at The University of Queensland participated in a simple experiment.[1] The students took their own pulse rates. They were then asked to flip a coin. If the coin came up heads, they were to run in place for one minute. Otherwise, they sat for one minute. Afterward, everyone took their pulse rates again. The pulse rates and other physiological and lifestyle data were recorded in a dataset called “PulseRate.”The variables in the dataset are:
Variable Description
ID Identification number
Height Height in centimeters (cm)
Weight Weight in kilograms (kg)
Age Age in years
Sex Male/female
Smokes Are you a regular smoker? (yes/no)
Alcohol Are you a regular drinker? (yes/no)
Exercise What is your frequency of exercise? (low, moderate, high)
GroupAssignment Whether the student ran or sat between the first and second pulse measurements
Pulse1 First pulse measurement (rate per minute)
Pulse2 Second pulse measurement (rate per minute)
Year Year of class (1993–1998)
Questions 1–8: Go to the DCMPExplore Categorical Data tool for one categorical variable at https://dcmathpathways.shinyapps.io/EDA_categorical/. Open spreadsheet DCMP_STAT_17A_PulseRate so you can copy and paste the relevant columns into the data analysis tool by selecting “Enter Data: Individual Observations.”

Question 1

1) What does each row in the data represent?

Question 2

2) What are three categorical variables in the dataset?

Question 3

3) What are three quantitative variables in the dataset?

Question 4

4) What are the categories for the variable Alcohol?

Question 5

5) What are the categories for the variable Exercise?

Question 6

6) What is the percentage of males in the dataset? Round to the nearest tenth. Hint: Use the data analysis tool. You have to use relative frequency and convert to a percentage.

Question 7

7) What is the number of people who smoke in the dataset? Hint: Delete all of the values for the previous variable. Then choose “Individual Observations,” specify the variable name, and copy and paste the new variable into the data analysis tool.

Question 8

8) What is the frequency of students in the dataset with a moderate level of exercise frequency?


  1. Wilson, R. J. (n.d.). Pulse rates before and after exercise. StatSci.org. http://www.statsci.org/data/oz/ms212.html