Measurement Scales and Types

of Data

Measurement
While people measure things casually in daily
life, research measurement is more precise and
controlled.
Variables being studied in research may be
classified as objects or as properties.
Objects include tangible items such as furniture,
laundry detergent, people or automobiles.
Properties are the characteristics of the object. A
person's physical properties include weight, height
etc., and his psychological properties are attitudes
and intelligence.

cont...

cont...

Measurement
An event is measured in terms of its
duration;
For duration, one measures the number of
hours and minutes recorded.

Measurement
For what happened, one uses some system
to classify types of activities that occurred.
Measurement typically uses some sort of
scales to classify or quantify the data
collected.
There are four types of Scales. In
increasing order of power, they are nominal,
ordinal, interval, and ratio.

cont...

Measurement
Nominal Classify into categories no order

Example: personality type, religion, gender

Ordinal Order objects along a dimension (ranking)

Example: Top 10 movies

Interval Meaningful distances between rankings:

ordered, constant scale, but no natural zero

Example: thermometer

Ratio Interval with true zero point (most precise):

ordered, constant scale, natural zero

Example: height, weight, age, length

cont...

Measurement
A. Store Customers:
Nominal Group them by race, ethnic
background, married or single status, etc.
Ordinal Rank them as very frequent
buyers, frequent buyers, infrequent
buyers.

cont...

Measurement
Interval Customer Satisfaction on five
point interval i.e. Highly Satisfied,
Satisfied, Neutral, Dissatisfied, Highly
Dissatisfied.
Ratio Average size of monthly
purchases

cont...

Measurement
B. Voter Attitudes
Nominal grouped as PML(N), PPP, PTI, and
others;
Ordinal Rank of candidates in order of
preference;
Interval Likert type scale. Most likely to win,
likely to win, neutral, less likely to win, cannot win
Ratio Count of votes for various candidates in
each district.
cont...

Measurement
C. Common Stock Preference
Nominal Industry classification of stocks;
Ordinal Rank order of preference stocks

as your preference for them;

cont...

Measurement
Interval Rating of preference for the
stock by converting the results of a paired
comparison rating into presumed interval
scale;
Ratio Six-month changes in price of
various preferred stocks.

cont...

Characteristics of Good
Measurement
Three major criteria for evaluating a
measurement tool are: validity, reliability,
and practicality.
Validity is the extent to which a test measures
what we actually wish to measure.
Reliability has to do with the accuracy and
precision of a measurement procedure.
Practicality is concerned with a wide range of
factors of economy, convenience, and
interpretability

Types of Data
Quantitative things you measure

Examples: (age, time, scores, etc.)

How much does a book weigh?

Qualitative things you categorize

Examples: (gender, race, class standing, etc.)

What color is the book?