Question

1. Suppose you have a client who procrastinates over studying and, as a result, is in danger of academic suspension. As a behaviorist, you want to be certain that you have appropriate ways to track progress and are considering a number of approaches. You ask the client to record some specific tasks, as listed below.

What is the most appropriate level of measurement – nominal, ordinal, nominal or ratio – for each task?

• Whether or not he studied
• Whether his studying was superficial, moderate or in depth
• How well he thinks he understands the material on a scale from 1 (not well) to 5 (very well)
• How long, in minutes, he spent studying

2. Now list the characteristics of these four levels of measurement. Why does the level of measurement matter to a counselor who is in practice but does not conduct research?

Answer 1

Answer 1

Whether or not he studied - Nominal scale will be used

Whether his studying was superficial, moderate or in depth - Ratio scale will be used

How well he thinks he understands the material on a scale from 1 (not well) to 5 (very well) - For this Ordinal scale will be used which is also called as rating scale.

How long, in minutes, he spent studying - Nominal scale will be used

Answer 2

Nominal scale- there is no relation between the data in nominal scale and for the age, number of members of household that contains a numerical value nominal scale is used.

Ordinal- This is also called as rating scale and there is some kind of relation between the different values provided in this scale. This is generally used to rate like rate from 1 to 10 where 1-4 is poor, 4-7 is good and 8-10 is very good.

Ratio scale- In this scale there is a clear difference between two the assigned values and this difference is accurate and can be measured.

The level of measurement is important as it will give the research the actual meaning and you can have your desired results if scales are chosen wisely.