Subject: Probability and Random Variables

Submitted to: Sir Tauseef Ahmed

Submitted by: Amina Nadeem

Roll no: 090317

Section: BEE-4-B

Date: 7th Feb, 2011

Different measurement scales allow for different levels of exactness, depending upon the
characteristics of the variables being measured. The four types of scales available in statistical
analysis are

1. Nominal:

A scale that measure data by name only. For example, religious affiliation (measured as Jewish,
Christian, Buddhist, and so forth), political affiliation (measured as Democratic, Republican,
Libertarian, and so forth), or style of automobile (measured as sedan, sports car, station wagon,
van, and so forth). At the nominal scale, i.e., for a nominal category, one uses labels; for
example, rocks can be generally categorized as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. For this
scale, some valid operations are equivalence and set membership.

We can use a simple example of a nominal category: first names. Looking at nearby people, we
might find one or more of them named Aamir. Aamir is their label; and the set of all first names
is a nominal scale. We can only check whether two people have the same name (equivalence) or
whether a given name is in on a certain list of names (set membership), but it is impossible to say
which name is greater or less than another (comparison) or to measure the difference between
two names. However, if we decide to sort our names alphabetically (or to sort them by length; or
by how many times they appear), we will begin to treat this nominal scale into an ordinal scale.

2. Ordinal:

Measures by rank order only. Other than rough order, no precise measurement is possible. For
example, medical condition (measured as satisfactory, fair, poor, guarded, serious, and critical);
social-economic status (measured as lower class, lower-middle class, middle class, upper-middle
class, upper class); or military officer rank (measured as lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant
colonel, colonel, general). Such rankings are not absolute but rather “relative” to each other:
Major is higher than captain, but we cannot measure the exact difference in numerical terms. Is
the difference between major and captain equal to the difference between colonels and general?
You cannot say. Rank-ordering data simply puts the data on an ordinal scale.

Ordinal measurements describe order, but not relative size or degree of difference between the
items measured. In this scale type, the numbers assigned to objects or events represent the rank
order (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) of the entities assessed. A scale may also use names with an order such
as: "bad", "medium", and "good"; or "very satisfied", "satisfied", "neutral", "unsatisfied", "very
unsatisfied." An example of an ordinal scale is the result of a horse race, which says only which
horses arrived first, second, or third but include no information about race times.

As a matter of fact, most of the scales used widely and effectively by psychologists are ordinal
scales.
In mathematical order theory, an ordinal scale defines a total preorder of objects (in essence, a
way of sorting all the objects, in which some may be tied). The scale values themselves (such as
labels like "great", "good", and "bad"; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd) have a total order, where they may be
sorted into a single line with no ambiguities.

3. Interval:

Measures by using equal intervals. Here you can compare differences between pairs of values.
The Fahrenheit temperature scale, measured in degrees, is an interval scale, as is the centigrade
scale. The temperature difference between 50 and 60 degrees centigrade (10 degrees) equals the
temperature difference between 80 and 90 degrees centigrade (10 degrees).

Note that the 0 in each of these scales is arbitrarily placed, which makes the interval scale
different from ratio.

Quantitative attributes are all measurable on interval scales, as any difference between the levels
of an attribute can be multiplied by any real number to exceed or equal another difference. A
highly familiar example of interval scale measurement is temperature with the Celsius scale. In
this particular scale, the unit of measurement is 1/100 of the difference between the melting
temperature and the boiling temperature of water at atmospheric pressure. The "zero point" on an
interval scale is arbitrary; and negative values can be used.

Ratios between numbers on the scale are not meaningful, so operations such as multiplication
and division cannot be carried out directly. But ratios of differences can be expressed; for
example, one difference can be twice another.Since one cannot divide, one cannot define
measures that require a ratio, such as studentized range or coefficient of variation. More subtly,
while one can define moments about the origin, only central moments are useful, since the
choice of origin is arbitrary and not meaningful. One can define standardized moments, since
ratios of differences are meaningful, but one cannot define coefficient of variation, since the
mean is a moment about the origin, unlike the standard deviation, which is (the square root of) a
central moment.

4. Ratio:

Similar to an interval scale, a ratio scale includes a 0 measurement that signifies the point at
which the characteristic being measured vanishes (absolute 0). For example, income (measured
in dollars, with 0 equal to no income at all), years of formal education, items sold, and so forth,
are all ratio scales.

Most measurement in the physical sciences and engineering is done on ratio scales. Mass, length,
time, plane angle, energy and electric charge are examples of physical measures that are ratio
scales.
The scale type takes its name from the fact that measurement is the estimation of the ratio
between a magnitude of a continuous quantity and a unit magnitude of the same kind.Informally,
the distinguishing feature of a ratio scale is the possession of a non-arbitrary zero value. For
example, the Kelvin temperature scale has a non-arbitrary zero point of absolute zero, which is
denoted 0K and is equal to -273.15 degrees Celsius. This zero point is non arbitrary as the
particles that compose matter at this temperature have zero kinetic energy (except for their zero-
point energy).

Examples of ratio scale measurement in the behavioral sciences are all but non-existent.

All statistical measures can be used for a variable measured at the ratio level, as all necessary
mathematical operations are defined. The central tendency of a variable measured at the ratio
level can be represented by, in addition to its mode, its median, or its arithmetic mean, also its
geometric mean or harmonic mean. In addition to the measures of statistical dispersion defined
for interval variables, such as range and standard deviation, for ratio variables one can also
define measures that require a ratio, such as student zed range or coefficient of variation.

Sources:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_measurement
 http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Measurement-Scales.topicArticleId-
25951,articleId-25907.html