Levels of Measurement of Data in Statistics

Nowadays, Statistics plays an important role in our daily life activities. Statistics is a process that deals with the collection, organization, analyzation, interpretation, presentation of the information that can be declared numerically. Statistics can be classified into two types. They are “Descriptive Statistics” and “ Inferential Statistics”. Descriptive Statistics will describe the set of measurement, whereas inferential statistics use the gathered data from a sample to make inferences from the larger population. Generally, the data is collected and organized by the nursing unit. After the organization, the data are analyzed by different measures of central tendency such as mean, median, mode, and also the progression of the data can be calculated from geometric progressions, arithmetic progressions etc.

Data Classification is an important process of organizing the data. Thorough data classification plans enable the protection of critical data and contribute to risk management. Usually, the data are classified into four different types. They are:

Quantitative Classification
Qualitative Classification
Chronological Classification
Geographical Classification

In Statistical Analysis, the data are measured using four different scales. The four different scales of measurement are Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio.

Nominal Scale is a scale that normally deals with the non-numeric variables where the numbers have no value. The numbers usually serve as “tags” or “labels” to classify or identify an object. Example: Gender Classification:

1. Male
2. Female

Here, numbers 1 and 2 are simply used as a tag, which does not have any value.

Ordinal Scale reports the ordering of data that actually establishes the degree of variation between them. It can be grouped, named, and ordered. The measure of central tendency for the ordinal scale is median.

Example: Satisfaction of Product:

1. Satisfied
2. Neutral
3. Not Satisfied

Interval Scale, the variables are estimated in an original manner and not as in a relevant manner, where the presence of zero is arbitrary. It is defined as a quantitative measure where the discrepancy between the two variables is meaningful. This scale allows calculating the arithmetic mean and median of the variables.

Example: Likert Scale

Ratio Scale is a scale that allows researchers to compare the differences. The unique feature of a ratio scale is that it possesses the character of origin. It is a variable measurement scale, and it is quantitative in nature.

Example: Age Limit