Data Set

A data set is a collection of values that provides information. These values can be presented in various ways such as in numbers or categories. The values are typically gathered through measurements, surveys, or experiments. Consider a data set that consists of the heights of a group of actors.

A single value in a data set, such as an individual actor's height, is called an observation or data point. In this table, each observation corresponds to the height of an actor — meaning that there are 24 observations. Each observation contains two variables, the actor's name and height. Number of Observations:& 24 Number of Variables: & 2 The actual number or category associated with each data point is called a data value. Data values are the specific pieces of information contained within a data point. Data sets can be represented using charts, tables, or different types of graphs. For example, the average temperature of a city for each month of 2018 can be plotted on a line graph.