EXPERT GROUP 1: NOMINAL LEVEL

Nominal level of measurement arises when we have

variables that are categorical and non-numeric or where
the numbers have no sense of ordering. As an example,
consider the numbers on the uniforms of basketball
players. Is the player wearing a number 7 a worse player
than the player wearing number 10? Maybe, or maybe
not, but the number on the uniform does not have
anything to do with their performance. The numbers on
the uniform merely help identify the basketball player.
Other examples of the variables measured at the nominal
level include sex, marital status, and religious affiliation.
For the study on the validity of the statement regarding
effect of breakfast on school performance, students who
responded Yes to Question Number 1 can be coded 1
while those who responded No, code 0 can be assigned.
The numbers used are simply for numerical codes, and
cannot be used for ordering and any mathematical
computation.
 EXPERT GROUP 2: ORDINAL LEVEL

Ordinal level also deals with categorical variables like

the nominal level, but in this level ordering is important,
that is the values of the variable could be ranked. For the
study on the validity of the statement regarding effect of
breakfast on school performance, students who had
healthy breakfast can be coded 1, those who had
unhealthy breakfast as 2 while those who had no
breakfast at all as 3. Using the codes the responses could
be ranked. Thus, the students who had a healthy
breakfast are ranked first while those who had no
breakfast at all are ranked last in terms of having a
healthy breakfast. The numerical codes here have a
meaningful sense of ordering, unlike basketball player
uniforms, the numerical codes suggest that one student
is having a healthier breakfast than another student.
Other examples of the ordinal scale include socio
economic status (A to E, where A is wealthy, E is poor),
difficulty of questions in an exam (easy, medium
difficult), rank in a contest (first place, second place, etc.),
and perceptions in Likert scales (strongly agree, agree,
disagree, strongly disagree).
 EXPERT GROUP 3: INTERVAL LEVEL

Interval level tells us that one unit differs by a certain

amount of degree from another unit. Knowing how much
one unit differs from another is an additional property of
the interval level on top of having the properties posses
by the ordinal level. When measuring temperature in
Celsius, a 10 degree difference has the same meaning
anywhere along the scale – the difference between 10
and 20 degree Celsius is the same as between 80 and 90
centigrade. But, we cannot say that 80 degrees Celsius is
twice as hot as 40 degrees Celsius since there is no true
zero, but only an arbitrary zero point. A measurement of
0 degrees Celsius does not reflect a true "lack of
temperature." Thus, Celsius scale is in interval level.
Other example of a variable measure at the interval is the
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of a person. We can tell not
only which person ranks higher in IQ but also how much
higher he or she ranks with another, but zero IQ does not
mean no intelligence. The students could also be
classified or categorized according to their IQ level.
Hence, the IQ as measured in the interval level has also
the properties of those measured in the ordinal as well as
those in the nominal level.
 EXPERT GROUP 4: RATIO LEVEL

Ratio level also tells us that one unit has so many

times as much of the property as does another unit.
The ratio level possesses a meaningful (unique and
non-arbitrary) absolute, fixed zero point and allows all
arithmetic operations. The existence of the zero point
is the only difference between ratio and interval level
of measurement. Examples of the ratio scale include
mass, heights, weights, energy and electric charge.
With mass as an example, the difference between 120
grams and 135 grams is 15 grams, and this is the same
difference between 380 grams and 395 grams. The
level at any given point is constant, and a
measurement of 0 reflects a complete lack of mass.
Amount of money is also at the ratio level. We can say
that 2000 pesos is twice more than 1,000 pesos. In
addition, money has a true zero point: if you have zero
money, this implies the absence of money. For the
study on the validity of the statement regarding effect
of breakfast on school performance, the student’s
score in the quiz is measured at the ratio level. A score
of zero implies that the student did not get a correct
answer at all.
 Name: ____________________________

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER:

1. What are the examples of data with nominal/ordinal/interval/ratio

level?

2. How can we say that the given data has nominal/ordinal/interval/ratio

level?