Data in Economics

Question 1

Quantitative data

Answer 1

Numerical data
e.g GDP, unemployment rate

Question 2

Qualitative data

Answer 2

Descriptive data providing insight into behaviour, opinions and motivations
e.g Surveys on consumer confidence

Question 3

Primary data

Answer 3

Collected directly by researchers for purpose
e.g household survey

Question 4

Secondary data

Answer 4

Collected by others but used for the research and analysis
e.g gov stats

Question 5

Microeconomic data

Answer 5

On individuals or small group behaviour
e.g Household income levels, firm profit

Question 6

Macroeconomic data

Answer 6

Aggregated at the national or global level
e.g Nationa GDP, inflation rate

Question 7

Cross sectional data

Answer 7

Collected at a single point in time across different entities
e.g Household income in 2023

Question 8

Time series data

Answer 8

Collected over time for one entity or variable
e.g GDP growth rate in UK

Question 9

What is Descriptive analysis?

Answer 9

Focuses on summarising and organising data to describe the characteristics of a data set
- Uses: mean, median, variane
e.g Average income

Question 10

What is Inferential analysis

Answer 10

Goes beyond dataset to make predictions, generalizations or conclusions of large population
- Uses: probability, hypothesis testing, sampling
e.g test economic models