Question

Levels of measurements:

Directions (Activity 2): Many variables can be measured on more than one level of measurement, depending on the circumstances. The following list contains variables that social researchers and practitioners in the human services commonly encounter. Which levels of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio) are applicable to each of these variables? For each variable below, give examples of how that variable can be measured on at least two levels. The first variable is done for you as an example. (.5 pts per example, 1 pts per row, 8 pts total)

	Nominal	Ordinal	Interval	Ratio
Age (Example)		Measured by ranked category: infant, toddler, adolescent, teenager, adult, senior.	Measured by year born (i.e. 1975, 1987, 1992).	Measured by age in years (i.e. 1 year old, 12 years old, 25 years old).
Income
Health
Drug use
School achievement
Number of arrests
Employment status
Assertiveness
Client Satisfaction

Answer 1

Nominal Data :  The numbers function as a name or label and do not have numeric meaning.

Ordinal Data : Refers to data that has some meaningful order, so that higher values represent more of some characteristic than lower values.

Interval Data : Data with meaningful order and has the quality of equal intervals between measurements, representing equal changes in the quantity of whatever is being measured.

Ratio Data : Data that has all the qualities of interval data (meaningful order, equal intervals) and a natural zero point.

	Nominal	Ordinal	Interval	Ratio
Age (Example)		Measured by ranked category: infant, toddler, adolescent, teenager, adult, senior.	Measured by year born (i.e. 1975, 1987, 1992).	Measured by age in years (i.e. 1 year old, 12 years old, 25 years old).
Income		Measured by payscale (Grade A-Pay, Grade B-Pay)		Measured by amount earned (i.e. $25000, $1M)
Health		Measured Based on feeling (i.e. Fine, feeling, weak, sick)
Drug use		Measured by the level of drug dosage (i.e. High, Medium, Low)		Measured by the amount of drug dosage (i.e. 0ml, 1ml, 100ml)
School achievement		Measured by Grades (i.e. A+, A, B) Measured based on rank (i.e. Rank1, rank 2)		Measured by Percent (i.e. 90%, 75%)
Number of arrests
Employment status	Measured as category (i.e. Employed, unemployed)
Assertiveness
Client Satisfaction