I'm trying to write a database schema for measurements in a variety of categories, and am having trouble coming up with names for some basic elements.
Let's assume we are gathering heart rate and blood pressure measurements from a group of people.
Each observation is composed of the individual being measured, the time the measurement was taken, and the amount of the measurement. What are each of these called?
What is the name for the type of measurement being taken (heart rate or blood pressure in this example)?
The collection of individuals is the sample, correct? If so, what is the term for the collection of observations?
Please feel free to revise the question, as my lack of knowledge makes it hard to ask accurately. I can come up with names myself, but after failing to find anything in some statistical glossaries, I'm curious if there are canonical names for these basic elements.
Best Answer
I'd use these:
Heart rate and blood pressure measurements and time: data
Collection of individuals: sample
Collection of observations: sample data or dataset
Also, see the Wikipedia page.