MEASUREMENT AND

SCALING TECHNIQUE
Introduction
 Measurement
 Common term – come across in daily life
 Process of assigning numbers to objects
or observations- under a function of
rules.
 Physical properties of objects
(e.g.) weight, height, etc.
 Abstract concepts

(e.g.) Social conformity, intelligence, marital

status, etc.
Measurement of physical properties
 Is of quantitative measurement

 Measurement is of high accuracy

 Have a definite yardstick for

measurement

 Has standard unit of measurement

Measurement of abstract
phenomena
 Is of qualitative measurement

 Not easy to measure

 Less confidence about the accuracy

 Complex and demanding task

 Technically speaking,
“Measurement is a process of mapping
aspects of a domain onto other
aspects of a range according to some
rule of correspondence.”
Consider the case…
 To find the male to female attendance
ratio- in some show…according to
sex.
 In terms of set theory,
 Domain- those who are coming to show.
 Range- sex classification.
 Rule of correspondence is…
 If domain appears as male…assign ‘0’
 If female… assign ‘1’
Cont…
 Similarly if we record a persons marital
status…assign 1,2,3,4 as…
 Single
 Married
 Widowed
 Divorced
 We record “Yes” or “No” answers to
questions as “0” or “1”(or as 1 and 2 or
perhaps as 59 and 60)
 We refer to the number we record as
Nominal data
Nominal data…
 Are numerical in name only…

 Do not share any properties of

numbers…as we deal with ordinary
arithmetic.

 As in marital status record 1,2,3,4…

 We cannot write as 4>2 or 3<4 and 3-
1=4-3.
Ordinal data…
 Qualities expressed as numerical data…
which can be used to setup only inequalities.
 For eg in assigning number to express the
hardness of the minerals as from 1 to 10,
respectively to Talc, Gypsum,….to Diamond.
 We can write as 5>2, or 6<9…but cannot be
written as 10-9 = 5-4.
 “Greater than symbol (i.e.>), used to
designate “happier than”, “preferred to”….
Interval data…
 In addition to setting up inequalities,
can also form differences…
 In case of expressing the degree of
hotness…we use Temperature.
 For eg temp 1100C > 900C and the
diff 1100C – 900C = 600C – 400C.
 It would not mean that 1260C is twice
the hot as 630C.
Ratio data…
 Can also form quotients in addition to
setting up inequalities and forming
differences.

 It includes all the usual

measurements… of length, height,
money amounts, weight, volume,
area, pressures, etc.
Measurement scales
 Classification of measurement scales
are;
 Nominal scale

 Ordinal scale

 Interval scale

 Ratio scale
Nominal scale…
 A simple system…of assigning
numbers to events or order to label
them.
 Eg assignment of numbers to
basketball players to identify them.
 Order is of no consequence…have no
quantitative value.
 Provide convenient ways of keeping
track of people, objects and events.
Cont…
 Mode is used as measure of central
tendency.
 chi-square test is the most
significant test of statistical
significance.
 Least powerful level of measurement.
 Nominal data, are, thus, counted
data.
 Widely used in surveys.
Ordinal data…
 Places events in order.
 Used in research related to qualitative
phenomena.
 Eg as in ranking a student in his
academic performance (from highest
to lowest scale).
 More precise comparisons can be
made
Interval scale…
 Interval scales can have an arbitrary
zero.
 Primary limitation is the lack of true
zero.
 For eg increase in temp from 300C to
400C is same as 600C to 700C.
 but the ratio of two temp 300C and
600C means nothing due to the lack
of absolute zero.
Cont…
 Provides more powerful measurement
than ordinal scale, also incorporates
the concept of equality of interval.
 Correlation techniques are
appropriate and test for statistical
significance are the ‘t’ test and ‘F’
test.
Ratio scale…
 Have an absolute or true scale of
measurement.
 For e.g. zero point on a centimeter
scale indicates the complete absence
of length or height.
 A kind of comparison which is not
possible in case of an interval scale.
 All statistical techniques can be used
and all manipulations that can be
carried out with real numbers.
Thank U