Classwork 8

Taxonomy of Data

Data
Analytics

On this page

• Description of Variables in netflix_data:
• Question 1
• Question 2
• Question 3
• Question 4

NoteNote

Please complete the question in this Classwork, and submit your response in the corresponding Brightspace page.

Consider the following data.frame, netflix_data, displayed below:

Description of Variables in netflix_data:

1. UserID: Identifier for each user
2. Age: Age of the user in years
3. Gender: Gender of the user
4. SubscriptionPlan: Type of Netflix subscription
5. FavoriteGenre: User’s favorite genre
6. HoursWatched: Average hours watched per week
7. LastLoginTime: Clock time of the user’s most recent Netflix login, recorded using a 24-hour clock (e.g., 0 = midnight, 5 = 5 AM, 10 = 10 AM, 20 = 8 PM).
8. AccountMonths: Age of the account in months
9. Satisfaction: User satisfaction rating (1 to 5 stars)
10. nDevices: Number of devices connected
11. LastMovieRating: Rating of the last watched movie (1.0 to 10.0)
12. nProfiles: Number of profiles on the account
13. Language: User’s preferred language

Question 1

What type of variable is FavoriteGenre in the dataset?

1. Nominal
2. Ordinal
3. Interval
4. Ratio

TipExample answer

Answer: a. Nominal. FavoriteGenre groups users into categories such as Drama, Comedy, and Action. These categories have no natural ranking: the genre names identify different preferences. We can count users in each category, but calculating an average genre would have no meaning.

Question 2

What type of variable is SubscriptionPlan in the dataset?

1. Nominal
2. Ordinal
3. Interval
4. Ratio

TipExample answer

Answer: b. Ordinal. The subscription tiers have a meaningful order: Basic < Standard < Premium. This ranking tells us which tier is higher, but the labels do not establish equal-sized differences between adjacent tiers.

Question 3

What type of variable is LastLoginTime in the dataset?

1. Nominal
2. Ordinal
3. Interval
4. Ratio

TipExample answer

Answer: c. Interval. Here, LastLoginTime is a clock reading: equal hour differences represent equal time intervals, while zero marks the chosen reference point of midnight. For example, 10 AM to noon and 6 PM to 8 PM are both two-hour intervals. A reading of 20 (8 PM) does not represent twice as much time as a reading of 10 (10 AM), so ratios of clock readings are not meaningful. Clock times wrap at midnight; comparing logins across midnight also requires the date or day order.

Question 4

What type of variable is Satisfaction in the dataset?

1. Nominal
2. Ordinal
3. Interval
4. Ratio

TipExample answer

Answer: b. Ordinal. A five-star rating indicates greater satisfaction than a three-star rating, so the responses have a meaningful order. However, equal changes in the star rating do not guarantee equal changes in satisfaction: the step from 2 to 3 may differ from the step from 4 to 5. The numeric labels record ranks, and a rating of 4 does not imply twice the satisfaction of a rating of 2.