Measuring Scales

Types of Variables
1. Qualitative
• Described verbally rather than numerically
• Eg: gender, Manufacturer of car, political affiliation
2. Quantitative
• A variable that assumes a meaningful numerical value
• Eg: test scores, age, weight
• Discrete
• A discrete variable assumes a countable number of distinct values.
• Eg: No. of children in a family, runs scored in cricket.
• Continuous
• A continuous variable can assume an infinite number of values within
some interval.
• Eg: infinite no. of values occur between the weights 100 and 101 pounds
as 100.3, 100.625, 100.8324
Types of Measurement Scales

1. Nominal Scales Categorical/non-

metric/Qualitative(described verbally )
2. Ordinal Scales
3. Interval Scales
Metric (quantitative(meaningful
4. Ratio Scales numerical value)

Scale determines the amount of information contained in the data

 Nominal Scale
• For labelling, identification or classification of objects.
• Used for identification of a person, group, product etc
• Not to measure the value of object
• Eg:
• Religious affiliation
1. Catholic
2. Jewish
3. Muslim
4. Other
• Thus for all categorical data ,nominal scale is used which merely assigns
labels.
• Eg:
• Products in Stores
1. Apparel
2. Sports item
3. Groceries
 Ordinal Scale
• For ordering or ranking or giving preferences
• Putting in hierarchy (ascending descending)
• Arranges objects or alternatives according to their magnitude
• Eg: Ranking Of players in Cricket
• Rank 1 : Kohli excellent
• Rank 2 : very good
• Rank 3 : good

• Excellent is better than very good but by how much

• Student ranked 8th finished ahead of student ranked 6th by how much?
• Gold Silver Bronze
• Horse race(ordinal scale does not tell how far apart the horses were)
• 1 winning position
• 2 place position
• 3 show position
 Ordinal Scale
• Symptoms of Depression
0 is none, 1 mild, 2 is Moderate, 3 is severe

• Tells us the relative positions of objects and not the difference in

magnitude of the objects

• Cannot quantify the difference between two objects

• Egs
• Quality Ranking
• Ranking of teams in tournaments
• Ranking of preference of colors
• Ranking soft drinks
 Interval Scale
• Has a definite interval
• Not only arranges the objects according to rank/magnitude but also
captures information about differences in quantities of a concept.
• The zero point is arbitrarily chosen.
• Not only does the would a sales manager know that a particular sales
person outperformed a colleague(ordinal scale) but would also know
by how much.
• If a professor assigns grades ranging from 1.0-20.0, student with 16.0
outperformed a student with 12.0 by 4.0
 Interval Scale
• The zero point is arbitrarily chosen.
• Zero point does not mean complete absence of what is being
measured
• No interpretation can be drawn from ratios and hence ratios are not
meaningful
• Eg:
• Temperature 40 degrees is twice of 80 degrees, temperature is twice but it is
senseless to say that it is twice as hot as 40 degrees in other words 80/40 has
no meaning.
• Zero degree does not mean complete absence of heat/cold.
 Ratio Scale
• All properties of Nominal, Ordinal and Interval
• Has a true zero point which means absence
• How much is your weight ?
• 60 kg
• How much money do you have?
• 1000 Rs
Used to measure many type of data in business
• Sales, profit and inventory levels
• Weight, time, distance are also measured on a ratio scale.

• Interval scale represents relative value

• Ratio Scale represents absolute value

• Value of an object can be zero which represents absence

• EG: Money zero