CardioGood Fitness is a developer of high-quality cardiovascular exercise equipment. Its products include treadmills, fitness bikes, elliptical machines, and e-glides. CardioGood Fitness looks to increase the sales of its treadmill products and has hired The AdRight Agency, a small advertising firm, to create and implement an advertising program. The AdRight Agency plans to identify particular market segments that are most Likely to buy their clients' goods and services and then locate advertising outlets that will reach that market group. This activity includes collecting data on clients' actual sales and on the customers who make the purchases, with the goal of determining whether there is a distinct profile of the typical customer for a particular product or service. If a distinct profile emerges, efforts are made to match that profile to advertising outlets known to reflect the particular profile, thus targeting advertising directly to high-potential customers.
CardioGood Fitness sells three different lines of treadmills. The TM 195 is an entry-level treadmill. It is as dependable as other models offered by CardioGood Fitness, but with fewer programs and features. It is suitable for individuals who thrive on minimal programming and the desire for simplicity to initiate their walk or hike. The TM195 sells for $ 1,500.
The middle-line TM498 adds to the features of the entry-level model: two user programs and up to 15% elevation upgrade. The TM498 is suitable for individual s who are walkers at a transitional stage from walking to running or midlevel runners. The TM498 sell s for $ 1,750.
The top-of-the-line TM798 is structurally larger and heavier and has more features than the other models. Its unique features include a bright blue backlit LCD console, quick speed and incline keys, a wireless heart rate monitor with a telemetric chest strap, remote speed and incline controls, and an anatomical figure that specifies which muscles are minimally and maximally activated. This model features a non folding platform base that is designed to handle rigorous, frequent running ; the TM798 is therefore appealing to someone who is a power walker or a runner. The selling price is $2,500.
As a first step, the market research team at AdRight is assigned the task of identifying the profile of the typical customer for each treadmill product offered by CardioGood Fitness. The market research team decides to investigate whether there are differences across the product lines with respect to customer characteristics. The team decides to collect data on individuals who purchased a treadmill at a CardioGood Fitness retail store during the prior three months.
The team decides to use both business transactional data and the results of a personal profile survey that every purchaser completes as the team's sources of data. The team identifies the following customer variables to study: product purchased-TMl95, TM498, or TM798; gender; age, in years; education, in years; relationship status, sing le or partnered; annual household income ($); mean number of times the customer plans to use the treadmill each week; mean number of miles the customer expects to walk/run each week; and self-rated fitness on a l-to-5 scale, where 1 is poor shape and 5 is excellent shape. For this set of variables:
1. Which variables in the survey are categorical?
2. Which variables in the survey are numerical?
3. Which variables are discrete numerical variables?