Types of Data Measurement Scales - Nominal, Ordinal, IntervalMy Market Research Methods

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Types of Data & Measurement Scales: Nominal, Ordinal,

Interval and Ratio
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November28,2012 DataAnalysis Tagged:dataanalysis,statistics 98comments
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Therearefourmeasurementscales(ortypesofdata):nominal,ordinal,intervalandratio.Thesearesimply
Quantitativevs.QualitativeResearch
waystocategorizedifferenttypesofvariables.Thistopicisusuallydiscussedinthecontextofacademic
teachingandlessoftenintherealworld.Ifyouarebrushinguponthisconceptforastatisticstest,thank
apsychologistresearchernamedStanleyStevensforcomingupwiththeseterms.Thesefour
measurementscales(nominal,ordinal,interval,andratio)arebestunderstoodwithexample,asyoullsee
Descriptivevs.inferentialStatistics
MarketResearchvs.MarketingResearch
below.
Nominal
Letsstartwiththeeasiestonetounderstand.Nominalscalesareusedforlabelingvariables,withoutany
quantitativevalue.Nominalscalescouldsimplybecalledlabels.Herearesomeexamples,below.
Noticethatallofthesescalesaremutuallyexclusive(nooverlap)andnoneofthemhaveanynumerical
significance.Agoodwaytorememberallofthisisthatnominalsoundsalotlikenameandnominal
scalesarekindoflikenamesorlabels.
ExamplesofNominalScales
Note:asubtypeofnominalscalewithonlytwocategories(e.g.male/female)iscalleddichotomous.If
youareastudent,youcanusethattoimpressyourteacher.
Continuereadingabouttypesofdataandmeasurementscales:nominal,ordinal,interval,andratio
Ordinal
Withordinalscales,itistheorderofthevaluesiswhatsimportantandsignificant,butthedifferences
betweeneachoneisnotreallyknown.Takealookattheexamplebelow.Ineachcase,weknowthata#4
isbetterthana#3or#2,butwedontknowandcannotquantifyhowmuchbetteritis.Forexample,isthe
differencebetweenOKandUnhappythesameasthedifferencebetweenVeryHappyandHappy?We
cantsay.
Ordinalscalesaretypicallymeasuresofnonnumericconceptslikesatisfaction,happiness,discomfort,etc.
Ordinaliseasytorememberbecauseissoundslikeorderandthatsthekeytorememberwithordinal
http://www.mymarketresearchmethods.com/typesofdatanominalordinalintervalratio/
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7/8/2016
scalesitistheorderthatmatters,butthatsallyoureallygetfromthese.
Advancednote:Thebestwaytodeterminecentraltendencyonasetofordinaldataistousethemodeor
medianthemeancannotbedefinedfromanordinalset.
ExampleofOrdinalScales
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Interval
Intervalscalesarenumericscalesinwhichweknownotonlytheorder,butalsotheexactdifferences
betweenthevalues.TheclassicexampleofanintervalscaleisCelsiustemperaturebecausethedifference
betweeneachvalueisthesame.Forexample,thedifferencebetween60and50degreesisameasurable
10degrees,asisthedifferencebetween80and70degrees.Timeisanothergoodexampleofaninterval
scaleinwhichtheincrementsareknown,consistent,andmeasurable.
Intervalscalesarenicebecausetherealmofstatisticalanalysisonthesedatasetsopensup.Forexample,
centraltendencycanbemeasuredbymode,median,ormeanstandarddeviationcanalsobecalculated.
Liketheothers,youcanrememberthekeypointsofanintervalscaleprettyeasily.Intervalitselfmeans
spaceinbetween,whichistheimportantthingtorememberintervalscalesnotonlytellusaboutorder,but
alsoaboutthevaluebetweeneachitem.
Herestheproblemwithintervalscales:theydonthaveatruezero.Forexample,thereisnosuchthingas
notemperature.Withoutatruezero,itisimpossibletocomputeratios.Withintervaldata,wecanaddand
subtract,butcannotmultiplyordivide.Confused?Ok,considerthis:10degrees+10degrees=20
degrees.Noproblemthere.20degreesisnottwiceashotas10degrees,however,becausethereisno
suchthingasnotemperaturewhenitcomestotheCelsiusscale.Ihopethatmakessense.Bottomline,
intervalscalesaregreat,butwecannotcalculateratios,whichbringsustoourlastmeasurementscale
ExampleofIntervalScale
Ratio
Ratioscalesaretheultimatenirvanawhenitcomestomeasurementscalesbecausetheytellusaboutthe
order,theytellustheexactvaluebetweenunits,ANDtheyalsohaveanabsolutezerowhichallowsfora
widerangeofbothdescriptiveandinferentialstatisticstobeapplied.Attheriskofrepeatingmyself,
everythingaboveaboutintervaldataappliestoratioscales+ratioscaleshaveacleardefinitionofzero.
Goodexamplesofratiovariablesincludeheightandweight.
Ratioscalesprovideawealthofpossibilitieswhenitcomestostatisticalanalysis.Thesevariablescanbe
meaningfullyadded,subtracted,multiplied,divided(ratios).Centraltendencycanbemeasuredbymode,
median,ormeanmeasuresofdispersion,suchasstandarddeviationandcoefficientofvariationcanalso
becalculatedfromratioscales.
2/13
7/8/2016
ThisDeviceProvidesTwoExamplesof
RatioScales(heightandweight)
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Summary
Insummary,nominalvariablesareusedtoname,orlabelaseriesofvalues.Ordinalscalesprovide
goodinformationabouttheorderofchoices,suchasinacustomersatisfactionsurvey.Intervalscalesgive
ustheorderofvalues+theabilitytoquantifythedifferencebetweeneachone.Finally,Ratioscalesgive
ustheultimateorder,intervalvalues,plustheabilitytocalculateratiossinceatruezerocanbedefined.
summaryofdatatypesandscalemeasures
Thatsit!Ihopethisexplanationisclearandthatyouknowunderstandthefourtypesofdatameasurement
scales:nominal,ordinal,interval,andratio!
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98 thoughts on Types of Data & Measurement Scales:

Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio
LJ
March13,2013at10:36am
Timeisinfactaratioscale.
20secondsistwiceaslongas10seconds.Youcanmultiplyanddividetime.Theabsolute0doesn\thave
tobeattainableforthescaletoberatio.Toborrowfromyourexample:thereisnosuchthingas\no
height\,yetyou\veclassifiedheightasratio.
Reply
MMRM
October29,2013at6:30pm
Thanksfortheexcellentcomment,LJ.Ihaveeditedthearticlebasedonyourcomment.Timeisa
trickyone.ThisarticlefromUCDavisexplainshowtime,dependingonhowitispresented,canbe
categorizedasanyofthesetypesofscales.
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/sommerb/sommerdemo/scaling/levels.htm
3/13
7/8/2016
Reply
RameshDhakal
April26,2013at3:14am
Thanksforthisinformativetext.NowIbecameclearerbetweenthesefourterms.
Reply
Rahul
June16,2013at11:10pm
Thanksforthatbrilliantlywritteninfo.Reallyhelpedclearallofmyconfusionregardingscales,especiallythe
differencebetweenintervalandratio.Thanksagain.
Reply
MarisaB
September23,2013at7:00pm
Thanksthishelpedmealot!
Reply
WayneH
November16,2013at4:55pm
Thankyousosomuch.ImdoingaBAinPsychotherapyandoneofourmodulesisPsychologysoweonly
touchonitinoneclasssoImnotaufaitatall.Youhaveexplainedtomein10minuteswhatIcouldnot
understandfromourlecturerina2hourlonglecture.Feelmoreconfidentabouttheexamforthismodule
nextMonday!
Reply
Upendop
December6,2013at11:29pm
Thankssomuch,sincenowiunderstandthosescalesespecialtodifferentiatethem.
Reply
TfromtheUK
February24,2014at6:10pm
Veryformativearticle,thankstoauthorforsuchagreatjob!
Reply
JohnyLaw
Brilliantarticlethough,howeverIhadonedoubtregardingoilpricesinexactUSDfigureoveramonthly
period.Onwhichscaleshouldthesevalueslie.Appreciateyourinputs.
Reply
PaulA
Thatwouldbearatioscale.$0isameaningfulnumber,andtheintervalsbetweenvaluesareequal
(i.e.thedifferencebetween$1and$2isthesameasthedifferencebetween$99and$100).Aclear
indicationofthisfactisthatyoucaneasilymultiplyanddividemonetaryvalues.E.g.1barrelofoil
costs$100,then2barrelswillcost2Xasmuch,or$200.
Reply
BUKARIMOHAMMED
March29,2014at10:35pm
Difficultthingsmadereallysimpleandeasytounderstand.
Reply
ms
April7,2014at7:24pm
veryhelpful
Reply
fbo
Thankyouverymuch,youareagoodteacher.
4/13
7/8/2016
Reply
mmandamberengo
May4,2014at5:48am
muchappreciatedauthorigotinformedalotinthesescales
Reply
Kamaluddin
May23,2014at11:58am
Tnxalot..
Reply
THOMASVIGBEDOR
June22,2014at6:17am
THANKS.INOWHAVEABETTERUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENTHEFOURMEASURES
Reply
sehrish
July6,2014at4:07am
veryeasytounderstandthankyou
Reply
AbhishekDixit
September7,2014at5:32am
Excellent&Simpleexplanationwithexamplesforclarity.
Reply
AbhishekDixit
Excellent&Simpleexplanation.
Reply
AbhishekDixit
Excellent&Simpleexplanation
Reply
roildadaison
verynicetnx
Reply
MuhammadAli
Iamveryimpressedwithyourdetailedandeasyexplanation..wishugetrewardforthis
Reply
MarketResearchGuy
May11,2016at3:27am
Thankyou.Iamveryimpressedwithyourboxingcareer.
Reply
kbd
October31,2014at8:07am
Thisinformationcameinhandy.thankyousomuch.
Reply
Anonymous
November20,2014at4:30am
wellexplained
Reply
Ced
5/13
7/8/2016
Celsiusisnotreallyagoodexampleforatruezero,aspeopleexperience0degreesCelsiusquiteoften.A
betterexamplewouldbe0degreesKelvin.Semantics,Iknow,butit\seasiertounderstandifphrasedinK.
Greatexplanationsotherwise.
Reply
BhupalBista
Thankyousir.itisveryhelpfulmeforbrodenmyknowledge.
Reply
Abdulmalik
December6,2014at3:36am
Thisexplanationskindahelp.Iwishcangetmoreverbalexplanations.
Reply
Dr.Ofole
January6,2015at3:50pm
Yourexplanationswereveryexplicitandillustrative.Myknowledgehasgreatlyimprovedonthe4levelsof
measurements
Reply
MathewJ
Itrulyenjoyedreadingthruthispaper.Simplelanguage,simpleandtothepointexplanations.Iappreciate
youforyourefforttosharethiswithpersonslikeme,findinghardtocomprehendstatistics.Thanksalot
Reply
Maqsood
January21,2015at12:49am
ThanksIthelpedmealottounderstandthemeasurementscales.
Reply
saidMohamud
February1,2015at5:48am
Thanksalot
Reply
Efficiency
Niceworkhelpedmeinmyassingment
Reply
Dennis
quizofbasicstatistics
arethefollowingnominal,ordinal,interval,orratiodata??,Explainyouranswers
1)Temperaturemeasuringonakelvinscale.
2)militaryranks
3)HIV/AIDSstatus
4)Coliformbacteriacountsindrinkingwatersupplies
Reply
Tiff
Iamdoingamakeupresearchinclinicnoshowrates.Takingtheamountofpatientsscheduledonagiven
day,andtheamountofpatientsthatactuallyshow.Whattypeisthis?
Reply
Susan
ThisarticlehashelpedmeunderstandwhatIamstudying,differenttypesofvocationaltesting.Ineededto
understandthebasicconcept.Veryhelpful.Thankyou
Reply
6/13
7/8/2016
walter
greatarticleandveryhelpfull
Reply
Anonymous
Verypreciseandclear.Thankyou
Reply
don
yourexplanationsweresimpledeep,illustrative,awesomethankyoukeepitup
Reply
sowmiyasakthivel
itwasmoreinformativetomeandurwayofexamplesineachtypesscalewasoutstandingandeasilyto
understabkethankyousomuch..
Reply
brotherbo
givethismanabells
Reply
ekantpuri
BeingaQualityEngineer.Itsveryimportanttoknowallthescales.Thisarticlewasveryinformative..
Thanks
Reply
batoolehsany
April19,2015at1:04pm
Clearanduseful,thanksalot.
Reply
MiilndaPeiris
ThankYou.Learntlotinaflash,summarywasbrilliant.
Reply
Dr.M.Rizwanulhassan
Excellentexplanationforscales
Reply
hokidipaul
Thanksalotforthedetailedexplanationofmeasurementsofscale,keepitup.
Reply
Audrey
May9,2015at5:10am
Thatwassoosimpleandinformativethumbsup
Reply
Chinyere
May11,2015at4:00am
IjustrecentlysignedonforaMscinhealtheducation..andstatisticsisoneofthemodulesThisishelping
mealot.Wouldntmindmorethough!
Reply
7/13
7/8/2016
EmiliaLawson
May19,2015at1:13pm
Manythanksfortheexplanation.Ithelpedmesolvemyassignmentinaneducationalcourseandhasalso
enlightenedmemore.
Reply
Anonymous
May25,2015at4:34pm
greatexplanation!!shortandsweet,straighttothepoint.Awesomethanks!!
Reply
Fred
June10,2015at8:16am
Invaluable!Ifoundmyselfagoldchest.IwishIfoundthiswebsitesomuchearlier,notthedaybeforethe
duelikethis.Iwillvisitthewebsiteofteninthefuture!
Reply
AM
June14,2015at2:41pm
Ithink0isthesameas24sowecan\tcounttimeasratiodataevenonthe24hourclockunlessyou
remove24fromthedatasetandendat23.
Reply
CON
July29,2015at11:13am
Thankyousomuchsirandma\am,thisservesasmynirvanaaboutscaleofmeasurement.
Reply
Vetbd
July31,2015at4:24pm
So,Nominal&ordinalarequalitativeandinterval&ratioarequantitativevariable.Thesearescaleofdata
measurement.Butordinalcanbebothqualitativeandquantitative.Canit?
Reply
Anonymous
thanksthisiswonderfulwork.#kevin,buthowwouldyouclassifytheteachersjobgroupsinastaff?
Reply
EstherMwangiWangu
August3,2015at9:51am
Thankyouforthegreatjob.Ilikethebitonhowtoremember,nominalislikename,ordinalislikeorder.
Thatwascreative.Keepitup!
Reply
Karthik
Brilliantarticle!AveryQQ:whydoyouclassifytemperatureasbeinginterval.Iagreethereifnothingcalled
\\notemperature\\,butisn\\t20ctwiceashotas10coramIwrong?Pleaseclarify.Also,anotherexof
ratioscaleswouldbeveryveryhelpful.
Reply
Tomas
Muchogracias,yosoyincanatadoenmeteriale,chao
Reply
Fari
Thanksforsuchclearandunderstandableexplanation
Reply
emma
8/13
7/8/2016
Whatofbinaryscale?
Reply
Anonymous
Wow!Thoseexamplessimplynailedtheexplanationsinsidemymemory.Thanksalot.
Reply
KofiGhana
Tomakethingsclearer,plsdontconfusetruezerotomeanthatzeroisavalidnumberonascale.for
example,theheightofanindividualbeing0cm.truezeromeanstherearenonegativevaluesforthescale
beingconsidered,asintheheightofapersonbeing100cmwhichisinvalid.TheCelsiusscaleissaidto
havenotruevaluebecausenegativevaluesareactuallyvalidfortheCelsiustemperaturescale.For
instance,thetemperatureoficecouldbe4degreesCelsius.Soweightandheighthaveatruezero.
Reply
KofiGhana
Thenotruevalueshouldbenotruezero,sorry
Reply
MarketResearchGuy
Goodclarification.thanks!
Reply
Anonymous
Thankyousomuch
Reply
Anonymous
Excellent!!
Reply
Angela
Theclearestinformationever!Thankyousomuch
Reply
fiaseEmmanuel
greatjob.itsamazing.
simplifyandbrief
Reply
Anonymous
whataboutthese?Isthefollowingnominal,ordinal,interval,orratioscale?
Ascoreof90outofa100onatest
Asalaryof$32.000
Reply
MarketResearchGuy
Ratio
Reply
thanksforsuchaclearconcept
November15,2015at4:06pm
thanksforsuchaclearexplanation
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7/8/2016
Reply
Josh
Youcannotmultiplyordividewithscoresor$eg$32x$32,90%/70%nomathematicalor
statisticalmeaningonthese.HencetheexampleshouldbeInterval.
Reply
TizTeezy
Quantityofsandminneddailye.g15,610trucksperday.Whatmeasurementscaleisthat?Howcanitbe
analyzed?
Reply
ismail
somuchluckyexplanation,Im2ndyearofuniversityandIhavebeenconfusedbythelecture.
butnowihavegotthepointandimpressinggreatthankforyourhelpingwell,encouragingyoutokeepup
thishelping.
Reply
FUO
December7,2015at3:22am
Brilliantexplanationofanotherwisemixedupknowledgeofmeasurementscalesinsometextbooks.Thanks
aLot.
Reply
salehmagdy
Thanksverymuch,ithelpmeverymuchIappreciateyourproceduretodisplayingtheinformation.
Reply
LalithaMeegoda
Thankyouverymuch.Veryhelpfultoclearmymindonmeasurementscales.
Reply
Advait
thanksthanksthanks.
iwouldalsoliketoknowinsituationswhereintervalorordinaldataistakenasnominaldata.
Reply
Aneeka
thanksforprovidingsuchainformationaboutbetterunderstandingofscalesformeasurement.
itsreallyhelpfulandclearouttheconfusionsbetweenthesescales.
providedexamplesreallyappreciable.
Reply
DorisChoo
YesIagreethisisthebestexplainationIcameacrosssofar.Crystalclearandconcise.
Thanksforsharingyourknowledge.
BCCanada
Reply
Jasmine
5.ResearchersatPrincessMargaretHospitalmeasurepatientspainusingthePainSurveywhere0=no
painand10=excruciatingpain.Whatlevelofmeasurementistheirsurvey?Whatmeasureofcentral
tendency(mean,median,mode)cantheyreport?
Cananyonehelpmewiththisquestionhere,i\\mabitstuck
10/13
7/8/2016
Reply
MarketResearchGuy
March8,2016at4:21pm
Ordinal.Thebestwaytodeterminecentraltendencyonasetofordinaldataistousethemodeor
medianthemeancannotbedefinedfromanordinalset.
Reply
Dhaiti
ThebestexplanationIeverhad.Youaresuper!Iwishyoucouldbemystatisticprofessor.
Reply
Mauro
March8,2016at9:30am
ThiswasexactlywhatIneededtoread.Thiswassimpleandclearlydifferentiatedthetermsquitenicely.Im
readyformytexttoday.
Reply
Said
March13,2016at10:41pm
Thankyouverymuch,Igotmoredetailaboutmeasurmentscale.IampreparingMasterinDevelopment
Studies
Reply
KyawZinThant
April2,2016at1:07am
Forthequestion,\\\Howmanycourseshaveyoutakeninthisyear?\\\isnominalorratioscale?
Reply
MarketResearchGuy
May11,2016at3:37am
Soundslikearatioscaletome.Absolutezero,knownorderandvalues.
Reply
naga
Iamresearchscholar,ineedstandredscaleforlabourwelfaremeasures.
Reply
ZohraSheikh
Hi
Iamconductingastudywithfourvariablesandinoneofthem,thescoresareasdecimals(e.g.4.3,5,
3.2\)allfourvariablesweremeasuredwithLikertscalequestionnaires,wouldthedatastillbeordinal?
Reply
Josh
Goodarticle.Onnominal/categoricaldata,Ithinkyoucancalculate/determinethemode.Modeisthemost
commonvalueinadatasete.g.Inanexperiment,notewhatcolourofshoeseachparticipantiswearingona
particularday.ResultsYellow=5,Blue=13Read=7,black=27.Hencethemodeisblacksinceitsthe
mostoccurringcolourofshoes.ThereforeamendthetablesuchthatyouhavearowforMode,andanother
oneforMedian.ThenhaveatickunderOrdinal,seebelow:
ProvideNominalOrdinalIntervalRatio
ModeYesYesYesYes
MedianYesYesYes
Reply
MarketResearchGuy
May11,2016at3:32am
Goodcommentandpoint.Iagreeandwillupdatethetable.Thanks!
11/13
7/8/2016
Reply
Moses
Greatexplanation
Reply
RodolfoMontoya
April23,2016at11:08pm
Thankyou,wellexplained
Reply
jakob
May13,2016at10:21am
Thankyousomuch!
Reply
Rami
May15,2016at8:30pm
ThanksMarketReaserchGuy
Reply
Mayorolapeju
May23,2016at12:49pm
Thisisaveryhelpfularticle.Godblesstheauthor
Reply
abigail
June8,2016at9:13pm
thankyouforthebetterunderstanding
Reply
Abhishek
June16,2016at9:23am
Verywellwrittenarticleconceptsarticulatedinasimplemanner.ThankYou.
Reply
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Types of Data & Measurement Scales: Nominal, Ordinal,

November28,2012 DataAnalysis Tagged:dataanalysis,statistics 98comments

Kashmir Houseboats, Srinagar Houseboats

Kashmir Houseboats, Srinagar Houseboats

98 thoughts on Types of Data & Measurement Scales:

Copyright 2015. Market

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