Measurement and Measurement Scales

Measurement: Measurement is a process of assigning number to some

characteristics or variables according to scientific rules. The variables in any study
can be measured under four levels of measurement scale. These are:
- Nominal scale
- Ordinal scale
- Interval scale
- Ratio scale
Nominal Scale: The measurement scale, in which numbers are assigned to the
categories of variable values for identification only, is called a nominal scale. The
values of a nominal variable are names or attributes that cannot be ordered or
sorted or ranked. For example: gender (male=1, female=2), smoking status (non-
smoker=0, smoker=1), blood group (A=1, B=2, AB=3, O+=4), nationality
(Bangladeshi=1, Indian=2, Saudi=3), place of resident (urban=1, rural=2) etc. can
be measured under nominal scale.

Ordinal Scale: The measurement scale, in which numbers are assigned to the
categories of variable values for identification as well as ranking, is called an
ordinal scale. For example: education level (illiterate=1, primary=2, secondary=3,
higher=4), economic status (rich=1, middle class=2, poor=3), student grade (A=1,
B=2, C=3) etc. can be measured under ordinal scale.

Interval Scale: The measurement scale, in which numbers are assigned to the
variable values in such a way that the measurement scale is broken down on a scale
of equal units and the zero value of the scale is not absolutely zero (zero does not
mean absence of a characteristic), is called an interval scale. Therefore, the
arithmetic operation like subtraction and addition is appropriate only in this scale.
For example: temperature, IQ etc. can be measured under interval scale.

Ratio Scale: The measurement scale, in which numbers are assigned to the
variable values in such a way that the measurement scale is broken down on a scale
of equal units and the zero value of the scale is absolutely zero (zero mean absence
of a characteristic), is called a ratio scale. Therefore, all the arithmetic operation
(subtraction, addition, multiplication, division) can be perform in this scale. For
example: No. of accident in a busy road, Income, Height, Age etc. can be measured
under ratio scale.

More on Scales of Measurement

Nominal (or Nominative)
 Identifier or name
 Unranked categorization
 Example: gender, eye color
Ordinal:
 All characteristics of nominative plus the following;
 Rank-order categories
 Ranks are relative to each other
 Example: Car Size: small (1), medium (2), large (3) or
Usefulness: very useful (1), useful (2), moderately useful (3), not very useful
(4)
Interval
 All of the characteristics of ordinal plus the following;
 Measurements are on a numerical scale with an arbitrary zero point
 The “zero” is assigned: it is unphysical and not meaningful
 Zero does not mean the absence of the quantity that we are trying to measure
 Can only meaningfully compare values in terms of the interval between
them
  Cannot compare values by taking their ratios
 Example: Temperature, IQ
0 C means “cold,” not “no heat”
20 C is NOT twice as warm as 10 C
But 20 C is 10 warmer than 10 C
Ratio
 All the characteristics of interval plus the following;
 Measurements are on a numerical scale with a meaningful zero point
 Zero means “none” or “nothing”
 Values can be compared in terms of their interval and ratio
 Example: Income, profit, loss, age, distance
$30 is $10 more than $20
$30 is 3 times as much as $10
$0 means no money

Problem: For each of the following variables, indicate whether it is quantitative

or qualitative and specify the measurement scale that is employed when taking
measurements on each:

(a) Class standing of the members of this class relative to each other
(b) Admitting diagnosis of patients admitted to a mental health clinic
(c) Weights of babies born in a hospital during a year
(d) Gender of babies born in a hospital during a year
(e) Range of motion of elbow joint of students enrolled in a university health
sciences curriculum
(f) Under-arm temperature of day-old infants born in a hospital
Problem: For each of the following situations, answer questions a through d:
(a) What is the sample in the study?
(b) What is the population?
(c) What is the variable of interest?
(d) What measurement scale was used?
Situation 1: A study of 300 households in a small southern town revealed that 20
percent had at least one school-age child present.
Situation 2: A study of 250 patients admitted to a hospital during the past year
revealed that, on the average, the patients lived 15 miles from the hospital.
 Understanding the Meaning of Data

Classification of Data: Classification is the grouping of related facts into different

classes. Facts in one class differ from those of another class with respect to some
characteristics called a basis of classification.

Frequency Distribution: A set of classes together with occurrence of values in

each class in a given set of data, presented in tabular form, is referred to as a
frequency distribution. Frequency distribution shows the number of items in each
of several non-overlapping or mutually exclusive classes.

Simple (or Ungrouped) Frequency Distribution

Example: The following data represent the number of children of women:
Example: Let us consider a sample from first year honors students provides the
following data about internet use in a particular day
Internet use category
1 = Not internet user, 2 = Use one hour or less, 3 = One to four hour, 4 = Four to
ten hour
5 = More than 10 hours

1 2 1 5 3 1 4 1 2 1 2 1 3
5 3 4 1 2 1 2 4 3 1 2 4 1
3 2 2 1 1 2 3 4 1 3 2 1 4
3 3 1 1 5 4 2 1 1 4 1

Table: Frequency distribution for internet use among first year students
Internet Usage Category Frequency Percentage
Not internet user 19 38
One hour or less 11 22
One to four hour 9 18
Four to ten hour 8 16
More than 10 hours 3 6
Total 50 100

Example: Ten people were asked about their car brand:

Ford, Ford, Ford, GM, Honda, Dodge, GM, Honda, Dodge, Ford

Class Frequency Relative

Frequency
GM 2 2/10 = 0.2
Ford 4 0.4
Dodge 2 0.2
Honda 2 0.2
Graphical Representation of Simple Frequency Distribution:
 Bar Chart
 Pie Chart
Example: Car Brand

4.5
4
3.5
3
GM
2.5
2 Ford
Series1
1.5 Dodge
1 Honda
0.5
0
GM Ford Dodge Honda

Example: Internet Use

Internet use among first year students

More than 10 hours
6% Four to ten hour
16%

Not internet user

38%
One to four hour
18%
One hour or less
22%
Example:
Consider the following table of typical annual earnings for someone over the age
of 18 in US based on education level.
Education Level Earnings
High School Diploma $ 22,000
Bachelor’s $ 40,000
Masters/Professional $ 73,000

The corresponding bar charts is shown in the following figure.

Grouped Frequency Distribution
For example,
The mid-point of the first interval: (12.95+13.95)/2=13.45
The mid-point of the last interval: (17.95+18.95)/2=18.45

Histogram:

A histogram is a graph in which the class intervals are marked on the horizontal
axis and the class frequencies or relative frequencies on the vertical axis and then
draw a box/bar (rectangle) over each class interval taken by the variable so that the
height of the rectangle corresponds to the frequency or relative frequency and the
width of the rectangle is equal to the width of that class interval.
Note on Histogram
• Used for quantitative variables (more specifically for continuous variables)
• Rectangles represent the classes
• No gaps between the adjacent rectangles
• The base of the rectangle represents the class length
• The height of the rectangle represents
o the frequency in a frequency histogram, or
o the relative frequency in a relative frequency histogram
Frequency polygon
A frequency polygon is a graph which takes class mid-value on the X-axis
(horizontal axis), and the corresponding frequency on the Y-axis (vertical axis) and
then add the adjacent co-ordinate points by a straight line.
 One advantage of frequency polygon over histogram is that it can provide an
excellent visual means of comparing two distributions, by plotting them on
the same graph.

Example:
Consider the following frequency distribution of age (in years) of wealthiest people
in the US.

Table: frequency distribution of of age (in years) of wealthiest people in US.

Age (Years) 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100
Frequency 3 4 7 11 14 4 4

The frequency polygon of the above frequency distributions is given below

Shape of a distribution of data

Symmetric Positively Skewed Negatively Skewed

(or rightward (or leftward skewed)
skewed)