Question

Which one of the following is FALSE? Ordinal measures have the properties of interval measures Interval measures have the properties of nominal measures Ratio measures have the properties of ordinal measures Ordinal measures have the properties of nominal measures All are true

Answer 1

The ratio scale is the 4^th level of measurement scale, which is quantitative. It is a type of variable measurement scale. It allows researchers to compare the differences or intervals. The ratio scale has a unique feature. It possesses the character of the origin or zero points whereas the ordinal scale is the 2^nd level of measurement that reports the ordering and ranking of data without establishing the degree of variation between them. Ordinal represents the “order.” Ordinal data is known as qualitative data or categorical data. It can be grouped, named and also ranked.

If we check the properties of the two, we found that the Ratio measurement has the following characteristics:

• The variables can be orderly added, subtracted, multiplied, divided. Mean, median, and mode can be calculated using the ratio scale.
• Ratio scale has unique and useful properties. One such feature is that it allows unit conversions like kilogram – calories, gram – calories, etc.
• Because of the existence of true zero value, the ratio scale doesn’t have negative values.

Ordinal measurement has the below charcteristics:

• Ordinal Scale maintains descriptional qualities along with an intrinsic order but is void of an origin of scale and thus, the distance between variables can’t be calculated.
• The surveyors can quickly analyze the degree of agreement concerning the identified order of variables
• Descriptional qualities indicate tagging properties similar to the nominal scale, in addition to which, the ordinal scale also has a relative position of variables. Origin of this scale is absent due to which there is no fixed start or “true zero”.

Hence, we do not see any common properties between the two. So, third point that is the ratio measure has the properties of ordinal measure is false.