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swcarpentry / sql-novice-survey

Databases and SQL
http://swcarpentry.github.io/sql-novice-survey/
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Meaning of `Survey.quant` values #239

Closed cwant closed 2 years ago

cwant commented 6 years ago

The Survey table has a field called quant that holds what type of reading was taken. The values in this column are rad, sal, and temp. There is no legend that explains what these mean on the page where the data is introduced (the selecting data chapter). Much later in the course it's mentioned that these mean 'radiation', 'salinity' and 'temperature', but I think it would also be helpful to mention the meaning earlier when the data is presented.

henrykironde commented 6 years ago

Thanks @cwant. If you have some time, could you please let us know where you think that information would be best fit. Additionally, if possible to put in a PR, we would appreciate it. Otherwise we shall look into the issue.

nathan-hook commented 6 years ago

I also got caught up on what quant was and after a quick google search it is short for Quantitative, which has a meaning of "relating to, measuring, or measured by the quantity of something rather than its quality."

Which I don't feel totally fits what the column is actually trying to describe, perhaps a better word would be measurement or category? Just a thought.

But, it could also be a representation of the original data and wanting to stay 'true' to the way that the records were originally recorded.

remram44 commented 6 years ago

I assumed it was short for "quantity"

cwant commented 6 years ago

Yeah, I also assumed quantity, but that could have been more clear, and it would probably be a good idea to include that information also.

Regarding the 'original data', I did a bit of googling, and it appears that all of the people, places, etc. come from an H. P. Lovecraft horror story:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness

So, I'm guessing keeping the fidelity of the original data isn't an issue :smiley:

I can submit a PR, but I'll wait a bit in case this might be a good task for somebody doing 'instructor checkout'.