Levels of Measurement

Question 1

What are the three levels of measurement?

Answer 1

Nominal, ordinal and interval/ratio

Question 2

What is nominal data?

Answer 2

Counting frequency data in categories. Tally charts are usually used to record this type of data. The mode is used to analyse this data

Question 3

What is a weakness of nominal data?

Answer 3

It’s the crudest, most uninformative type of data

Question 4

What is ordinal data?

Answer 4

Ranking or rating data in order. The median is used to analyse this type of data

Question 5

What is a strength of ordinal data?

Answer 5

It’s more informative than nominal data

Question 6

What is a limitation of ordinal data?

Answer 6

It lacks further information and can be quite subjective e.g there may be that there is only 1 second separated the finishing time of 1st and 2nd or on a scale of 1-10, one persons 7 may be different to another’s

Question 7

What is interval/ratio data?

Answer 7

Standardised measurement units are used like time, weight and temperature. The mean is used to analyse this type of data

Question 8

What is a strength of interval ratio data?

Answer 8

It is the most informative and also accurate form of measurement as the distance between the units are completely equal

Question 9

What is the difference between interval and ratio?

Answer 9

Interval data has not true 0 point (can go into minus numbers) whereas ratio data has a true 0