Statistics Interview Question: Name the different types of variables and give examples of them

I work with variables a lot in my data science research. Programming languages such as Python, R, and Java make variables quite easy to work with because they do not need to be explicitly declared before they are defined, and are created when a value is assigned to them. This differs from other languages, such as that statically typed C, C++, Java, or C#, where a variable must also have a type. An example of this is because a variable of type ‘integer’ cannot store a text value.

Nevertheless it is important to know what types of variables can be used in statistics. This is important because the field of statistics is a bedrock of data science. It is important, therefore, for individuals pursuing this field to know what type of variables they are working with.

Categorical variable

A categorical variable, also called nominal value, is used for mutually exclusive, but not ordered categories.

Examples of categorical variables are race, sex, age group, and education level.