Quantitative data numeric data in which the numbers are measurements. Units a quantity or amount adopted as a standard of measurement, such as dollars, hours, or grams. Class discussion here can fill in the W's and identify quantitative and categorical variables. Students see quickly that the real world isn't all that simple. The class data can be put into a Data Desk file and returned to the class for homework exercises or used in analyses to illustrate subsequent classes.
Students save their data and return to it for homework assignments throughout the course.
The experiment also serves as an exercise in using the mouse efficiently - a skill students will need throughout the course. The initial activity in Data Desk introduces the statistics environment and shows students how easy it is to make a few displays. Two easy self-examination quizzes introduce the quiz methods and help reassure students. Activities that have students read selected portions of the Data Desk documentation are included in the Lesson. These are less exciting than other activities because students are asked to read several pages from the screen.