Epidemiological data can be broadly categorized into qualitative and quantitative types.
Qualitative Data includes non-numerical information that describes characteristics or attributes. This type of data is often collected through interviews, surveys, or focus groups and can be further divided into:
Nominal Data: Categories without a natural order (e.g., blood type, gender). Ordinal Data: Categories with a natural order but no fixed interval between categories (e.g., stages of cancer, levels of pain).
Quantitative Data is numerical and can be measured. It is further classified into:
Discrete Data: Countable values (e.g., number of new cases, number of hospital visits). Continuous Data: Values that can take on any value within a range (e.g., age, blood pressure).
