LEVELS OF

MEASUREMENT
KRISHA LEE T. TARIMAN BSMA 4

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Measurement
-Measurement is a procedure for assigning symbols, letters, or
numbers to empirical properties of variables according to rules.

-Numerals are labels that have no inherent meaning, for

example, in drivers' license numbers, zip codes, or social
security numbers.

-Numbers are numerals that have quantitative meaning and

are amenable to statistical analysis, for example, age, height, or
weight.
Rules for assigning labels to properties of variables are
the most important component of measurement,
because poor rules can make the outcome meaningless.
It is difficult to measure concepts directly, e.g., "work
effort," so what are usually measured are indicators of
concepts, such as speed, repetitiveness, etc.
 NOMINAL
LEVEL
- Nominal means "in name only"
and that should help to
remember what this level is all
about. Nominal data deals
with names, categories, or
labels.

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 Nominal Level
- Data at the nominal level is
qualitative. Colors of eyes, yes or no
responses to a survey, and favorite
breakfast cereal all deal with the
nominal level of measurement.

- Data at this level can't be ordered in

a meaningful way, and it makes no
sense to calculate things such as
means and standard deviations.

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ORDINAL
LEVEL
Data at this level can be
ordered, but no differences
between the data can be taken
that are meaningful.

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 Ordinal Level

- Data at this level can't be ordered in a

meaningful way, and it makes no
sense to calculate things such as
means and standard deviations.

- For example, education level (with

possible values of high school,
undergraduate degree, and
graduate degree) would be an
ordinal variable.
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- There is a definitive order to the categories (i.e., graduate is
higher than undergraduate, and undergraduate is higher
than high school), but we cannot make any other arithmetic
assumptions beyond that.

- We can use frequencies, percentages, and certain non-

parametric statistics with ordinal data. However, means,
standard deviations, and parametric statistical tests are
generally not appropriate to use with ordinal data.

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Measurement Problems
- Commonly encountered problems include a misplaced belief in
precision. It is not usually necessary, for example, to measure
annual income in dollars and cents.

-Another problem is measures that go against social

conventions. It is often easier to ask people to check of
categories than to supply specific information, for example, with
regard to age, income, education, etc. It is a trade-off between
gathering higher-level (interval or ratio) data and having a higher
questionnaire completion rate (less missing data).
- A third problem is when the operational definition does not
correspond to the conceptual definition. It may be easier to
measure the number of students suspended from school
than to measure the concept of school violence.

- A fourth problem is when the researcher becomes addicted

to certain statistics, and gathers only data measured at the
level appropriate for those statistical formulas.
Importance

It is important for the researcher to understand the

different levels of measurement, as these levels of
measurement, together with how the research question is
phrased, dictate what statistical analysis is appropriate. It is
an important topic since the type of scale used in taking
measurements directly affect on the statistical techniques
which can legitimately be used in the analysis.
Thank You !
Krisha Lee T. Tariman
BSMA 4