CQP Foundation Level
Quantitative Skills and Data Analytics glossary
Every term this guide defines, A to Z, each with the chapter that teaches it. Open it when a word in a question is unfamiliar, and test yourself on it in the last week: cover the definition and say it in one sentence.
11 terms from the free first chapter
C
- Continuous quantitative data
Measurements, which can take any value in a range: fill volume, moisture content, tensile strength.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
D
- Data
Raw, unprocessed facts and figures: 496, 502, 488. Data has no meaning until it is given context.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
- Data analytics
The systematic examination of data to draw conclusions, using statistical, computational and visual methods.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
- Discrete quantitative data
Counts, which can only take whole values: number of defects per unit, number of complaints per month.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
I
- Information
Data placed in context and processed: 'the mean fill of the last twenty 500 ml bottles was 495.3 ml'.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
K
- Knowledge
Information combined with experience and interpretation: 'the filler is drifting low, as it did before the last bearing failure'.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
P
- Primary data
Collected by the analyst for the present purpose: a survey, a set of measurements taken from the line.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
Q
- Qualitative or categorical data
Data recording a category: nominal and ordinal. In quality work these are attribute data, counted rather than measured, and analysed with p charts and c charts.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
- Quantitative or numerical data
Data recording a quantity: interval and ratio. In quality work these are variable data, measured on a continuous scale, and analysed with mean and range charts and capability indices.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
S
- Secondary data
Collected by someone else for another purpose: KNBS statistics, sector reports, the organisation's own historical records.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
- Structured, semi-structured and unstructured data
Structured data sits in defined fields in a database; semi-structured carries tags but no fixed schema; unstructured data is free text, images, audio and video, which is the majority of what an organisation holds and the hardest to analyse.
Taught in Introduction to analytics
The full glossary adds every term from the other 6 chapters, A to Z, each with the chapter that teaches it.