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Type of Variable

There are four types of variable scales: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Nominal scales involve categorical data that cannot be manipulated mathematically. Ordinal scales allow for ranking but not determining differences. Interval scales allow determining differences but not ratios. Ratio scales allow for all mathematical manipulations including ratios, with an inherent zero point. The type of scale used depends on the nature and measurement of the variable being studied.

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18 views3 pages

Type of Variable

There are four types of variable scales: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Nominal scales involve categorical data that cannot be manipulated mathematically. Ordinal scales allow for ranking but not determining differences. Interval scales allow determining differences but not ratios. Ratio scales allow for all mathematical manipulations including ratios, with an inherent zero point. The type of scale used depends on the nature and measurement of the variable being studied.

Uploaded by

Anakwak Man
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TYPE OF VARIABLE

VARIABLE The characteristic of the population of interest. For example:Monthly income,respondent age gender and level of education

Quantitative or numerical Measured on numerical scale. Yields numerical response such as "How tall are you?" so the answer is numerical Qualitative or attributive Measured with non-numerical scale Yields categorical response such as "Are you Malaysian?" so the answer only "Yes" or "No".

Discrete Numerical reponse which arises from accounting process such as "How many children do you have?" Continuos Numerical response which arises from a measuring process such as "How tall are you?"

Scale of measurement y y y y y Data can be divided into numerical and categorical. Numerical contains number that we can manipulate using ordinary arithmetical operations Such as we count the number of cars that pass the toll-booth for three consecutive days. Categorical can be sorted into categories. Such as, data on the marital status of respondents can br classified into single, married, widow or widower, or divorced.

Usually data can classified as nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio. Nominal scale: y y y y y y Nominal data is categorical data. The data are not capable of being manipulated arithmetically The number of the data cannot be added or subtracted from another number as these arithmetic operation do not give any meaning. For example, if we code 1 for red car, 2 for white car and 3 for blue car, and we add 1 to 2 and obtain 3, the result is meaningless as red car plus white car is not equal to blue car. Nominal scale is the lowest in the level of data measurement scales. Data are classified into categories and the frequency of each category is counted.

Ordinal scale: y y y y Ordinal scale can be arranged in ranking order and inequality signs can be used when comparing the values of variable. The difference between the data values cannot be determined or are meaningless. For examples, four basketball teams A,B,C and D that took part in competition can be ranked as being the first place, second place, third and last. Ordinal scale is a level higher than nominal scale.

Interval scale: y y Interval scale is the difference between data values are meaningful but canot be manipulated with multiplication and division. For example, the tempreture in degree Celcius is of interval sacle. We know that the tempreture of 30C is warmer than 20C but 30C is not 1.5 times warmer than 20C.

Ratio scale: y y y y Ratio measurement is the interval measurement with an inherent zero setting difference between two values and ratio of two values are meaningful for this level of measurement. The zero has meaning and represent the absence of the phenomenon being measured. This is the higher level of data measurement scale. For example, height of respondent, weight of a durian and time taken to complete given task.

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