VARIABLES AND LEVEL OF
MEASUREMENTS
VARIABLES — a characteristic that changes
or varies over time and/or for different individuals
or objects under consideration
 Time Series — daily, weekly, monthly, or
yearly
 Cross Sectional Data — different
individuals or objects collected at the same
day
o Example: body weight as of today
 If everyone is from same group, it is not
considered as a variable
o Example: College (not a variable if all
students are from COS)
QUALITATIVE VARIABLE —
measure a quality or characteristic on each
experimental unit
 Produce data that can be categorized
according to similarities or differences
 Also known as Categorical Variable
 Classified under different characteristics
 According to frequency
BINARY VARIABLES — 2 options
 Also known as dichotomous variables
 Example: Yes or No, Male or Female, Dead
or Survived, Pass or Fail
EXAMPLES:
 Major — math, engineering, business,
education, biology, chemistry
 Religion
 Colors
 Rating — excellent, good, fair, poor
QUANTITATIVE VARIABLE —
measure a numerical quantity or amount on each
experimental unit
DISCRETE VARIABLE — can assume only a finite
or countable number of distinct possible values
 Example: Number of students, Number of
tickets sold, Number of errors in a quiz
 By counting
 “How many?”
CONTINUOUS VARIABLE — can take any value
in either a finite or infinite range
 Example: Interest rate in %, Weight in kg,
Volume in liters, Time to complete an exam
 Measured by a measuring device
o Limits the possible values that a
continuous variable can take
 “How much?”
SCALES OF MEASUREMENT —
levels of measurement
 The higher level, more analysis can be done
in the data
MEASUREMENT — assignment of numbers to
characteristics of objects, persons, states, or events,
according to rules
NOMINAL SCALE — figurative labeling scheme in
which the numbers serve only as labels or tags for
identifying and classifying objects
 Also known as a classificatory scale
 Values are not really numerical
 Labelling purposes
 No order
 Qualitative variable
 Mean or Median — cannot be calculated
for nominal data
o Getting the average will not make sense
 Example: SSS/GSIS numbers, student
numbers, gender, religion
ORDINAL SCALE — numbers are assigned to
objects to indicate the relative extent to which the
objects possess some characteristic
 Has more or less, but not how much
more or less
 No standard measure
 Median — not affected by changes of any
scores which are above or below it
o As long as the number of scores
above and below remains the same
 Example: Socioeconomic status (A, B, C, D,
E, F) Course Grade (4.0, 3.5, 3.0, 2.5, 2.0,
1.5, 1.0, 0.0) Likert scale (1-StronglyAgree,
2-Agree, 3-Neutral, 4-Disagree, 5-Strongly
Disagree)
INTERVAL SCALE — numerically equal distances
s on the scale represents equal values in the
characteristic being measured
 Arbitrary/ Artificial 0 — not necessarily
absent
  Constant or equal interval between scale
values
Variables
 30 ℃ and 10℃ is not 3:1 because if it is
converted it will be 86℉ and 50℉
 Example: temperature on the Celsius or Qualitative Quantitative

Fahrenheit, Scales index numbers, Attitude

measures
Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio
RATIO SCALE — scale possesses all the
properties of the nominal, ordinal, and interval
scales

 Absolute 0 — absent of something

o If 0 is converted into another, it will still
be 0
o Example: 0 ℃ = 0℉ , Php 0 = USD
0
 Amounts can be compared
o Example: 40kg = 10kg is 4:1

EXERCISE: Complete the chart below to identify the

characteristics of each variable

Continuous,
Quali or
Variable Discrete, Scale
Quanti
Binary
Sex Quali B N
Academic
Quali D N
Major
Number of
minutes
before and Quanti C R
after an
event
Restaurant
Quali D O
ratings
Speed Quanti C R
Dollars in
Quanti D R
your pocket
Change in
Quanti C R
weight
Checking
account Quanti C R
balance
Reaction
Quanti C R
time
Letter
Quanti D O
grades
Clothing
Quali D O
size
Registered
Quali B N
voter
Therapeutic
Quali D N
approach
Schizophre
Quali D N
nia type
Work
Quanti B R
absences
Words
Quanti B R
recalled