MEASUREMENTTHEORY

Submi
tt
edto
Dr
.If
fat
Submi
tt
edby
Tay
yabI
qbal
Measur
ementTheor
y
Measurementtheor
yisthestudyofhownumber sareassi
gnedtoobj
ectsand
phenomena,anditsconcer
nsincl
udethekindsofthi
ngsthatcanbemeasured,howdiff
erent
measuresrel
atetoeachother
,andtheproblem of
 er
rori
nthemeasurementprocess.

Anygener
alt
heor
yofmeasur
ementmustcomet
ogr
ipswi
thsomebasi
cpr
obl
ems:

 Er
ror

 Repr
esent
ati
on,
whi
chi
sthej
ust
if
icat
ionofnumberassi
gnment

 Uni
queness,
whichisthedegreetowhichtheki
ndofrepr
esentat
ionchosenappr
oaches
bei
ngtheonlyonepossi
blefortheobj
ectorphenomenoninquesti
on.

Qual
it
iesofMeasur
ement

 I
tmustbedescr
ipt
ivewi
thr
egar
dtost
ateorobj
ectbei
ngmeasur
ed.

 I
tmustbesel
ect
ive;
itmayonl
ypr
ovi
dei
nfor
mat
ionaboutwhatwewi
sht
omeasur
e.

 I
tmustbeobj
ect
ive.Theout
comeofmeasur
ementmustbei
ndependentofanar
bit
rar
y
obser
ver
.

Measur
ementScal
es

Fol
l
owi
ngar
escal
esofmeasur
ement

 Nomi
nal

 Or
dinal

 I
nter
val

 Rat
io

 Absol
ute

Nomi
nalScal
e

ANomi nalScal
eisameasur ementscal
e,i
nwhichnumbersser
veas“t
ags”or“
label
s”
onl
y,t
oidenti
fyorclassi
fyanobj ect.Anominal
scalemeasur
ementnormal
l
ydealsonl
ywith
non-
numeric 
(quanti
tat
ive)
 var
iablesorwherenumbershavenoval
ue.
Bel
owi
sanexampl
eofNomi
nal
 
lev
elofmeasur
ement
.

Pl
easesel
ectt
hedegr
eeofdi
scomf
ortoft
hedi
sease:

 1-
Mil
d

 2-
Moder
ate

 3-
Sev
ere

I
nthi
spar
ti
cul
arexample,1=Mi
l
d,2=Moder
ate,
and3=Sev
ere.Her
enumber
sar
esi
mpl
y
usedast
agsandhavenovalue.

Or
dinalScal
e

Ordi
nalscal
eisthe2nd 
lev
el ofmeasurement
 t
hatrepor
tsther
anki
ngandor
deri
ngof
t
hedatawit
houtactual
lyest
abl
i
shingt hedegr
eeofvari
ati
onbetweent
hem.Ordi
nal
lev
elof
measur
ementisthesecondoft
hef ourmeasurementscal
es.

“Or
dinal
”indi
cates“
order”
.Ordi
nal
dat
ais 
quant
it
ativedat
a whi
chhav
enatur
all
y
occurri
ngorder
sandt hedi
ff
erencebet
weeni
sunknown.Itcanbenamed,gr
oupedandal
so
ranked.

I
nter
val

Thei nter
valscaleist
hethi
rd l
evelofmeasur ement af
terthenomi nalscaleandt he
ordi
nalscale.Understandi
ngthefir
sttwolevel
swi ll
helpy oudif
ferent
iateinter
val
measurement s.Anomi nalscal
eisusedwhenv ar
iablesdonothav eanat uralorderorranki
ng.
Youcani ncludenumber edorunnumberedv ar
iabl
es, butcommonsur v eyexampl esincl
ude
gender
,locat i
on,pol
it
icalpar
ty,
pets,andsoon.

Char
act
eri
sti
csofi
nter
val
scal
e

Thetri
cki
estpar
tabouttheinter
valscal
eisprobabl
ythefactthatt
hereisnot r
uezero.
Butwheny outhi
nkaboutit
,somev ari
ablesdonothaveauniver
sall
yconstantzero.Consi
der
thi
sint
ervalscal
eexample:t
emperatureindegr
eesFahrenhei
t.

Ifyou’
reanalyzingtemperaturesindegr
eesFahrenhei
t,say20-40degreesand40-60
degrees,t
hereisorderanddi f
ferencebetweenvari
abl
esismeani ngful,
butt
hepr esenceofzer
o
i
sarbitrar
y.Howi szeroarbitr
ary
?Zer odegreesontheFahrenheit(andCel
sius)scalei
snota
uni
versalconstantbutinsteadassignedtorepr
esentt
het emperatureatwhi
chbr i
nemadef rom
equalpartsofi
ce, water,
andsaltfreezes.
Rat
ioscal
e

Ratioscal
ei satypeofvar
iabl
emeasurementscalewhichis quanti
tat
ive i
nnature.Rati
o
scal
eallowsanyr esear
chertocomparet
hei nt
erval
sordif
fer
ences.Rat i
oscalei sthe4t
h level
ofmeasur ement 
andpossessesazeropointorcharact
erofori
gin.Thisisauni quefeat
ureof
rat
ioscale.

An absol
utescale 
i
sasy stem of 
measur
ement t
hatbegi
nsatami nimum, orzeropoint
,
andprogressesi
nonl yonedi
recti
on.Anabsolut
escaledif
fer
sfrom anarbit
rar
y,or"rel
ati
ve",
scal
e,whichbeginsatsomepoi ntsel
ectedbyapersonandcanprogressinbothdirect
ions.An
absol
utescalebeginsatanaturalminimum,l
eavi
ngonlyonedir
ecti
oni nwhichtoprogress.

Anabsolut
escal
ecanonl
ybeappl
i
edt
omeasur
ement
sinwhi
chat
ruemi
nimum i
s
knownt
oexist
.

Ref
erences
ht
tps:
//www.
bri
tanni
ca.
com/

ht
tps:
//www.
quest
ionpr
o.com/