Statistics question - is this a quantitative or qualitative variable?

I think your professor is suggesting that quantitative variables are continuous variables. That means there is a continuous measurement and the intervals between each mark on the scale are the same.

Qualitative variables seem to be those where it isn’t clear what the difference between each mark on the scales is. Things like the color of hair, where the difference between colors is a matter of opinion, not a matter of measurement.

In your example, there really isn’t enough information about the unit of measurement to know. Is there a scale that determines medal depending on score on the measurement, or are the medals given out in some sort of opinionated way?

So you need more information to decide, I think.

Quantitative is data that is described by numbers and is measurable = IQ (100, 131, 152, 110) Income ($40,000, $25,000, $90,000) Height (5’4”, 6’2”, 5’10”)
Qualitative is descriptive and observable = Hair color (blonde, brunette, redhead) gender (male, female)

If the competition were amongst the population at large, blind vs. sighted would qualitatitive because it would be a descriptive, observable characteristic.

Tricky. Can quantitative variables refer to ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd… ) as well as cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3… )? Should the medals be construed as ordinal numbers? The inclusion of “4th place” seems like a hint.

From a Wikipedia article on non-parametric statistics:
Non-parametric methods are widely used for studying populations that take on a ranked order (such as movie reviews receiving one to four stars). The use of non-parametric methods may be necessary when data have a ranking but no clear numerical interpretation, such as when assessing preferences…

Non-parametric methods include qualitative data as well as some quantitative data—when it doesn’t follow a continuous, normal distribution (source).

@BarnacleBill It’s not blind vs. sighted, it’s gold vs silver vs bronze vs 4th place.

So I guess that’s qualitative…?

Even though you can interpret Gold as 1st place, it’s still descriptive. That’s probably why they worded it that way. The actual scores of each contestant would be the qualitative data: The Gold winners jumped 8’2”, 8’, 8’1” The Silver winners jumped 7’, 7’9”, 7’6”

When you do counts of a population of a characteristic, that’s quantitative data. Bill won 5 gold medals, 3 silver medals, 0 bronze medals, 0 4th place medals.
However, yes/no counts are qualitative: Did Bill win a gold medal? Yes Did Bill win a silver medal? Yes Did Bill win a bronze medal? No Did Bill win a 4th place medal? No

If your variable is “what position did each place get?” its probably qualitative, though its kind of on the edge between the two.

If your variable is “how many blind people in each position” then its quantitative.