involves classifying observations into mutually exclusive categories
Binary scales
allocation of that individual to one of only two possible categories
Male/Female
smoker/non
thus participants are assigned to a
named category such as 'male' or
'female'
No particular order
i.e Budhist, Monks....
NAMES ONLY
Ordinal
ORDERED
involves ranking of phenomena
permits the numeric ranking of objects on the basis of their standing
relative to each other on a specified characteristic.
organised along 'greater than and less than' dimensions
only shows relative magnitude, not quantity
discrete and conceptualised as having inherent order
Mutually exclusive
1 = is completely dependant 2
= is needing another person's
assistance 3 = is needing
mechanical assistance 4 = is
completely independent.
Only ranks doesn't tell whihc one is better
Ratio
represent the highest level of measurement
Absolute zero point
describe ratio properties between values as there is a true zero;
have all of the characteristics of
nominal, ordinal and interval
measures
Interval
characteristics of both nominal and
ordinal data but also has the
characteristics of equal spacing
between categories
indicates how much the categories differ;
demonstrates equal amounts of change in a variable
between equivalent distances or intervals between
points on a scale
does not measure absolute magnitude since the zero on interval scales is arbitrary
the arbitrary zero does not mean there is 'nothing'
of the variable being measured; for example, an
IQ of zero does not mean zero intelligence – it just
means someone scored zero on an IQ test –
maybe because they couldn't read
No true 0 makes it diff to compare ratios
specify both the rank order of a
characteristics and the distance between
those objects.
someone whose IQ increased from 100 to
110 has had the same IQ increase as
someone
whose IQ has gone from 110 to 120 (i.e.
a 10-point increase in both cases).