However, while capturing nominal data, researchers conduct analysis based on the associated labels. There is no need for any specific order for these brands. In this survey question, only the names of the brands are significant for the researcher conducting consumer research or netnography.Nominal scale is often used in research surveys and questionnaires where only variable labels hold significance.įor instance, a customer survey asking “Which brand of smartphones do you prefer?” Options : “Apple”- 1, “Samsung”-2, “OnePlus”-3. Calculations done on these numbers will be futile as they have no quantitative significance. There are cases where this scale is used for the purpose of classification – the numbers associated with variables of this scale are only tags for categorization or division. Calculations done on these variables will be futile as there is no numerical value of the options. This scale is the simplest of the four variable measurement scales. Nominal Scale, also called the categorical variable scale, is defined as a scale used for labeling variables into distinct classifications and doesn’t involve a quantitative value or order. Here’s more of the four levels of measurement in research and statistics: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, Ratio. Ratio scale bears all the characteristics of an interval scale, in addition to that, it can also accommodate the value of “zero” on any of its variables. Interval scale offers labels, order, as well as, a specific interval between each of its variable options. Ordinal scale has all its variables in a specific order, beyond just naming them. Nominal scale is a naming scale, where variables are simply “named” or labeled, with no specific order. Before we discuss all four levels of measurement scales in details, with examples, let’s have a quick brief look at what these scales represent. Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio are defined as the four fundamental levels of measurement scales that are used to capture data in the form of surveys and questionnaires, each being a multiple choice question.Įach scale is an incremental level of measurement, meaning, each scale fulfills the function of the previous scale, and all survey question scales such as Likert, Semantic Differential, Dichotomous, etc, are the derivation of this these 4 fundamental levels of variable measurement. What are Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio Scales? The mathematical nature of a variable or in other words, how a variable is measured is considered as the level of measurement. The level of measurement of a variable decides the statistical test type to be used. Using statistical tests, you can conclude the average hourly rate of a larger population. Then the average hourly rate of this sample audience is calculated. So, a sample audience is randomly selected such it represents the larger population appropriately. The variables for this set of the population can be industry, location, gender, age, skills, job-type, paid time off, etc The value of the variables will differ with each employee spotlight.įor example, it is practically impossible to calculate the average hourly rate of a worker in the US. For instance, consider a sample of employed individuals. A quantity whose value changes across the population and can be measured is called variable. There are different levels of measurement in statistics and data measured using them can be broadly classified into qualitative and quantitative data.įirst, let’s understand what a variable is. To perform statistical analysis of data, it is important to first understand variables and what should be measured using these variables.
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