Scales of Measurements

Presented by
Sumbal noureen
(F2020146042)
Scales of measurements

 Scales of measurement is how variables are defined and categorized.

 measurement scale, in statistical analysis, the type of information
provided by numbers.
 The type of data collected determines the appropriate measurement
scale, and the measurement scale, in turn, determines the appropriate
statistical procedure for analyzing particular data and drawing
conclusions from that data.
 Measurement involves assigning individuals or events to categories.
 The categories used to measure a variable make up a scale of
measurement, and the relationships between the categories determine
different types of scales.
 Each scale of measurement has properties that determine how to
properly analyze the data. The properties evaluated
are identity, magnitude, equal intervals and a minimum value of zero.
Levels of scales of measurements
Psychologist Stanley Stevens developed the four common scales of
measurement:
1. Nominal scale
2. Ordinal scale
3. Interval
4. ratio
Nominal scale
 A nominal scale consists of a set of categories that have different names
 Measurements on a nominal scale label and categorize observations, but
do not make any quantitative distinctions between observations.
 A nominal scale are not quantitative values, they are occasionally
represented by numbers
Example of nominal scale
 Examples of nominal scale are gender, marital status, eye color, nationality,
religious preference, surgical outcome (dead/alive), blood type, and
epidemiological status (healthy, patient), having any symptoms in a
questionnaire (yes/no).
 In order to collect data using the nominal scale, you have to use a question-
type survey.
Conti…..
Q. Are you married?
 Yes
 No
Q. What language do you speak?
 English
 Urdu
 French
 Punjabi
Distinct features
nominal data have three distinct features:
1) no ordering of the different categories,
2) no measure of distance between values, and
3) categories can be listed in any order without affecting the relationship
between them.
Ordinal scale
 An ordinal scale consists of a set of categories that are organized in an
ordered sequence. Measurements on an ordinal scale rank observations
in terms of size or magnitude.
 In other words, we can place the scores in order (hence ordinal) from the
smallest to the largest. It is sometimes called rank measurement since we
can assign ranks to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.
Example of ordinal scale
Examples of ordinal variables might include:
 Hierarchy measurement use
 stages of cancer (stage I, II, III, IV), education level (elementary,
secondary, college), pain level (1-10 scale),
 type of degree (BS, MS, PhD), the Likert variable such as the attitudinal
response variable (agreement level) with four levels (strongly
disapprove, disapprove, approve, strongly approve), or 4-item-rating
scale (always, often, sometimes, never)
Example
How do you feel today?
o Happy
o Very happy
o Unhappy
o Very unhappy
o ok
Interval scale
 An interval scale consists of ordered categories that are all intervals
of exactly the same size. Equal differences between numbers on a
scale reflect equal differences in magnitude. However, the zero point
on an interval scale is arbitrary and does not indicate a zero amount
of the variable being measured.
 Interval scales are numeric scales in which we know both the order
and the exact differences between the values.
Example
 the scale of measurement consists of a series of equal intervals, such as
inches on a ruler
 In an interval scale, such as body temperature (°C, °F) or calendar dates, a
difference between two measurements has meaning, but their ratio does not
 SAT score and IQ score
Ratio scale
 A ratio scale is an interval scale with the additional feature of an absolute
zero point. With a ratio scale, ratios of numbers do reflect ratios of
magnitude.
 Ratio scales provide a wealth of possibilities when it comes to statistical
analysis. These variables can be meaningfully added, subtracted,
multiplied, divided (ratios).
Example
  In psychology, ratio is employed In some types of test and test items,
perhaps most notably those involving assessment of neurological
functioning.
 Examples of the ratio scales include weight, pulse rate, respiratory rate,
body temperature (°K), and body length in infants or height in adults.
Difference
 Nominal scale level: data that cannot be ordered nor can it be used in
calculations
 Ordinal scale level: data that can be ordered; the differences cannot be measured
 Interval scale level: data with a definite ordering but no starting point; the
differences can be measured, but there is no such thing as a ratio.
 Ratio scale level: data with a starting point that can be ordered; the differences
have meaning and ratios can be calculated.
Conclusion
 The distinctions among the scales are important because they identify the
limitations of certain types of measurements and
 because certain statistical procedures are appropriate for scores that have
been measured on some scales but not on others.
 It should be obvious by now that data collection requires that we make
measurements of our observations.
References
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3963323/
 https://www.voxco.com/blog/nominal-scale/
 https://www.mymarketresearchmethods.com/types-of-data-nominal-ordinal-interval-rat
io

/
 file:///C:/Users/f2020146042/Downloads/Statistics%20for%20Beh%20Sciences-2.pdf
 file:///C:/Users/f2020146042/Downloads/[Julie_Pallant]_SPSS_survival_manual%204
%20edition%20(1).