3.Discuss with the help of examples the four key levels of measurement. What mathematical operations/statistical techniques are and are not permissible on data from each type of scale? Answer:- Meaning of Measurement scales The term ‘measurement’ means assigning numbers or some other symbols to the characteristics of certain objects. When numbers are used, the researcher must have a rule for assigning a number to an observation in a way that provides an accurate description. We do not measure the object but some characteristics of it. Therefore, in research, people/consumers are not measured; what is measured only are their perceptions, attitude or any other relevant characteristics. Types of Measurement scales with examples Nominal scale: This is the lowest level of measurement. Here, numbers are assigned for the purpose of identification of the objects. Any object which isassigned for the purpose of identification of the objects. Any object which is assigned a higher number is in no way superior to the one which is assigned a lower number. Each number is assigned to only one object and each object has only one number assigned to it. It may be noted that the objects are divided into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories. Example: • What is your religion? (a) Hinduism (b) Sikhism (c) Christianity (d) Islam (e) Any other, (please specify) Ordinal Scale: Ordinal scale: This is the next higher level of measurement than the nominal scale measurement. One of the limitations of the nominal scale measurements is that we cannot say whether the assigned number to an object is higher or lower than the one assigned to another option. The ordinal scale measurement takes care of this limitation. Example: • Rank the following attributes while choosing a restaurant for dinner. The most important attribute may be ranked one, the next important may be assigned a rank of 2 and so on. Interval Scale : Unlike the nominal scale that simply places objects into or out of a category or the ordinal scale that rank orders objects, the interval scale indicates the distance one object is from another. In the social sciences, there is a famous example often taught to students on this distinction. Ratio Scale : The scale that contains the richest information about an object is ratio scaling. The ratio scale contains all of the information of the previous three levels plus it contains an absolute zero point. To use the example above, the ratio scale allows you to measure the stumps from the bottom of the lake; the bottom of the lake represents the absolute zero point. Mathematical operations/statistical techniques All the mathematical operations can be carried out using the ratio scale data. In addition to the statistical analysis mentioned in the interval, the ordinal and the nominal scale data, one can compute coefficient of variation, geometric mean and harmonic mean using the ratio scale measurement. All the statistical techniques which are applicable in the case of nominal scale measurement can also be used for the ordinal scale measurement. However, the reverse is not true. This is because ordinal scale data can be converted into nominal scale data but not the other way round.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 08:26:39 +0000
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