LEVELS OF

MEASUREMENT
Prepared by:
Lorelyn P. Genetiano
Katrina Ayessa C. Mejia
• Stanley Smith Stevens
(November 4, 1906 –
January 18, 1973) was
an American
psychologist.

• He developed the best

known classification
with four levels of
measurement such as
nominal, ordinal,
interval and ratio.
Stanley Smith
Stevens
 Levels of Measurement
• Levels of measurement, also called scales
of measurement, tell you how precisely
variables are recorded.
• In Statistics, levels of measurement is a
classification that relates the values that
are assigned to variables with each other.
In other words, level of measurement is
used to describe information within the
values.
 Levels of Measurement
• The four levels of measurement are
nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio.
• Levels of measurement can be split into
two groups; qualitative and quantitative.
• Qualitative can be nominal or ordinal.
• Quantitative can be interval or ratio.
 Nominal
• The nominal scale is naming scale where
variables are simply named or labeled,
with no specific order.
• It is used for labeling variables into
distinct classifications and doesn’t involve
a quantitative value or order.
• This scale is simplest of four variable
measurement scales.
 Ordinal
• The ordinal scale has all its variables in a
specific order.
• It maintains description qualities along
with an intrinsic order but is void of an
origin of scale and thus the distance
between variables can’t be calculated.
• The difference or ration between two
rankings may not always be the same.
 Interval
• The interval scale is quantitative
measurement scale where there is order,
the difference between the two variables is
meaningful and equal, and the presence of
zero is arbitrary.
• It measures variables that exist along a
common scale at equal intervals. The
measures used to calculate the distance
between the variables are highly reliable.
 Ratio
• The ratio level is the highest of four
hierarchical levels of measurement.
• A ratio scale is quantitative scale where
there is a true zero and equal intervals
between neighboring points. Unlike on an
interval scale, a zero on a ratio scale means
there is a total absence of the variable you
are measuring.
 Ratio
• The ratio level contains all of the features
of the other 3 levels. At the ratio level,
values can be categorized, ordered, have
equal intervals and take on a true zero.
 Why is Level of Measurement
Important?
• First, knowing the level of measurement
helps you decide how to interpret the data
from that variable.
• Second, knowing the level of measurement
helps you decide what statistical analysis is
appropriate on the values that were
assigned.
 Activity

Classify each level of measurement:

1. Marital status of patients in physicians office.
2. Ratings of eight local player. (Poor, fair,
Good, Excellent)
3. Temperatures inside 10 refrigerators.
4. Salaries of the top 5 CEO’s in the US.
5. Service quality rating. (Disgusting,
unappetizing, neutral, tasty, delicious)
THANK YOU!!!!