Given a dataset, the first task is to determine the structure of the available metrics. Let's look at the first item of our weather dataset.

There are many different values here, but two basic types: strings and numbers. These two types can roughly be split (respectively) into two basic types of data: qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative data (our strings) does not have a numerical value, but it can be put into categories. For example, precipType can either have a value of "rain" or "snow".

Quantitative data (our numbers) is numerical and can be measured objectively. For example, temperatureMax has values ranging from 10°F to 100°F.

Both of these types of data can be broken down even further.

Qualitative Data#

Binary data can be placed into only two categories.