Define hard quantitative data and the types of data

HARD QUANTITATIVE data is that type of data which we are generally familiar with. It lies within and parallels our number system. It encompasses RATIO and INTERVAL data types.

There are four types of data that may be gathered in social research, each one adding more to the next. Thus ordinal data is also nominal, and so on. The four types of data are: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio.