Final answer:
A characteristic that cannot be measured and only categorized is known as qualitative data, encompassing nonnumerical attributes that sort people or items into groups without intrinsic order or value.
Step-by-step explanation:
A characteristic that cannot be measured in the usual sense and can only be put into categories is referred to as qualitative data. Qualitative data, also known as categorical data, is nonnumerical and describes attributes of a population. For example, categorical variables such as a person's party affiliation classify individuals into groups like Republican, Democrat, and Independent, without any inherent numerical value or order. Unlike numerical variables, which have equal units and can be subjected to mathematical operations like calculating an average, qualitative data does not lend itself well to such procedures, since it makes no sense to calculate things like an average party affiliation or hair color.
The characteristic that cannot be measured in the usual sense and can only be put into categories is called a categorical variable. Categorical variables are qualitative data that place people or things into specific categories. For example, if we categorize students based on their favorite subject in school, we would have categorical variables like Math, History, English, Science, etc. Categorical variables cannot be measured numerically, but they help in organizing and analyzing data based on different categories.