Statistical informationIt including numbers and sets of numbers has specific qualities that are of interest to researchers.These qualities, including magnitude, equal intervals, and absolute zero, determine what scale of measurement is being used and therefore what statistical procedures are best.Magnitude It refers to the ability to know if one score is greater than, equal to, or less than another score.Equal intervals It Means that the possible scores are each an equal distance from each other.Absolute zeroIt refers to a point where none of the scale exists or where a score of zero can be assigned.4Levels of MeasurementThe Level of measurement of a variable is a critical factor in determining what kinds of tools may be used to describe the variable, and what means of analysis may be used for inference about the variable. In short, the level of measurement determines or constrains the types of descriptive and inferential statistics that may be applied to the variable.1

Scales of MeasurementScale LevelScale of MeasurementScale QualitiesExample(s)

4RatioMagnitudeEqual IntervalsAbsolute ZeroAge, Height, Weight, Percentage

3IntervalMagnitudeEqual IntervalsTemperature

2OrdinalMagnitudeLikert Scale, Anything rank ordered

1NominalNoneNames, Lists of words

There are four levels of measurements.a. Nominalb. Dichotomous (often used as Nominal)c. Ordinald. Intervale. Ratio(Often used interval)f. For each level of measurement there is a statistical method.2

NominalNominal variables are those which can be named, but not quantified.2 They has two or more categories, but there is no intrinsic order to the categories. There is no way to order these in lowest or highest.3 they can be code in number, but magnitude of assigned number is arbitrary, if value of number changed it will not change inference.2

Examplesg. Religion (Protestant Catholic, Hebrew, Buddhist, etc)h. Race (Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic,Asian, etc)i. Linguistic Groupj. Marital Status (Married, Single, Divorced)Difference between ordinal and nominalIn nominal there is no order in variable but if order exist than it will be ordinal.3OrdinalWith ordinal variables, there is a rough quantitative sense to their measurement, but the differences between scores are not necessarily equal. They are thus in order, but not fixed.2You can order and rank the dada, you can say a measure is lower or higher, but you cannot say how much higher or lower.1Examples1. Economic Status (Low, Medium, High) ordered or rank but spacing between them will not be constant.32. Ranking of employee on performance base (1st, 2nd, 3rd) but spacing between first and second cannot certainly equal.23. Evaluation of employee performance (High, Low, Medium) but cannot be of equal interval.24. Likert Scale (Agree, strongly agreed)Used to check the validity of questionaire25. Prefer flavor of ice cream1IntervalGrouping, ranking and includes exact distance between measures.1 It dont have zero at start.1Examplesk. Money2l. Education (in year)2m. People2n. Annual Income2Annual income that is measured in dollars, and we have three people who make $10,000, $15,000 and $20,000. The second person makes $5,000 more than the first person and $5,000 less than the third person, and the size of these intervalsis the same. If there were two other people who make $90,000 and $95,000, the size of that interval between these two people is also the same ($5,000).3RatioRatio variables on the other hand are at the other end of the scale. Ratio variables are numbers with some base value. Percentages are perhaps the best indicator here.2Ratio level data are said to be at the highest level and can be grouped, ranked, and the exact distance between measures determined. Also, Ratio level measures contain an absolute "0". By having an absolute "0" in your measurement "scale", you are able to describe data in terms of ratios.1

Examples

Nominal

6. Credit Card Number (Not Greater than other)7. Social security Number58. Employees personal Characteristic 69. Employee Diversity,(American, Australian, Britsh)710. Material Status of employee in organization8

Ordinal

11. Ranking of top psychology school of USA 512. Age of employee in organization (Young vs old or medium)713. Hierarchy of levels with respect to the construct of effectiveness. (Rank1,Rank2,Rank3)914. Attitude of employees10 Princes 15. IQ (Some time)10

Interval10

16. Age in Years17. Time taken to complete a statistic assignment18. Number of week spend on vocations19. Dollar value of goods purchase and sale20. Number of letter on page, number of people in HRM class etc

Ratio 10

1. The Blishen scale of socioeco-nomic statu

Reference

1.Statistical survival Kit, for HRD practices, http://www.internetraining.com/Statkit/StatKit.htm2. Level of Management, http://www.polsci.wvu.edu/duval/ps601/Notes/Levels_of_Measure.html3. What is the difference between categorical, ordinal and interval variables? http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/mult_pkg/whatstat/nominal_ordinal_interval.htm4. Research Method, http://allpsych.com/researchmethods/measurementscales.html5. Introduction to State, Chapter 1, https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:F1gDGIlWIOEJ:www.sagepub.com/upm-data/40006_Chapter1.pdf+nominal+variable+examples+in+social+sciences&hl=en&gl=pk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgVjeVGk-daNMa2d7tkGRJEgkSNXWl6fg1eASD8-3saEvQtg023Iud0L4uiZGy2CpZXlagmPkBb3mpUJxAAu-3tt6p2fwrbnGhLAQrOBdO8N4kMpUspWs9fgAIiMfvrrxu8JMwV&sig=AHIEtbTPZC-ebeSLObKCCAQWUQw5PKe43g6. type of Nominal variable, http://www.ehow.com/list_6456092_types-nominal-variables.html7. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_measurement8. Type of variable, http://www.unesco.org/webworld/idams/advguide/Chapt1_3.htm9. Basic concept in research and data analysis, Chapter 1, https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:p7xRthsHLU8J:support.sas.com/publishing/pubcat/chaps/59814.pdf+nominal+variable+examples+in+management+sciences&hl=en&gl=pk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjPK8WWUp8nFToHL5tpbFBdVR8l8o5Sv6uql6S9ErBbptxcXDRCz0F1HIAbPAHy-rNA4LuxljSmf9d6HSVnCfgmVG9Fd-DCU8dMOxywMjdtY-zektm6quKLoSy3fE8HbvCf-Co9&sig=AHIEtbQgnvB7rcLW2PyBf2IMxgC9gSeySw10. type of variable, chapter 3, https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:-IpI8jwG_HMJ:uregina.ca/~gingrich/ch3.pdf+interval+variable+example+in+social+sciences&hl=en&gl=pk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShqnXcrzNtC3msOhdPDXdQM1wjFrG4jL9P4cTAYl90vSNY7smjkYLAjv5csZzx180omBoCGmDY0QzEQGWIPM9zLT6JBUsWjWs5wVxdua_YMEYtR3noSWTFxA0hYiCDIS4QH1S2D&sig=AHIEtbSdr_zcga3_IPa0aa8zSBf04WZwUw