Chapter 1

Introduction
to Statistics
Part 2

*The lecture slides are based on Keller and Black Slides subject to modifications.
 Lecture Outline
• Data Measurement

1-Nominal
2-Ordinal
3-Interval
4-Ratio

• Comparisons of four levels of data

• Exercises
 Data Measurement
• The level of measurement determines the amount of information contained
in the data.

• Numbers can represent dollar costs of items produced, geographical

locations, weights of items, and ranks of students in an exam.

• Such data should not be analyzed the same way statistically because the
entities represented by the numbers are different.

• The appropriateness of the data analysis depends on the level of

measurement of the data gathered.

• Example:
The numbers 40 and 80 could represent the weights of two products or
football shirt numbers. Averaging the two weights seems reasonable, but
averaging the football shirt numbers makes no sense.
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 Data Measurement
• Four levels of measurement used to obtain data on a particular
variable
1. Nominal (lowest)
2. Ordinal
3. Interval
4. Ratio (highest)

N.B.:
• Each level offers more information about the variable than did
the previous one.
 1. Nominal Level
• Numbers representing nominal level data can be used only to classify
or categorize.

• Nominal measurement carries no indication of order or preference.

E.g.: responses to questions about marital status, coded as: Single = 1,

Married = 2, Divorced = 3, Widowed = 4

• Any other code is also valid provided that each category has a
different number assigned to E.g. Single = 5, Married = 9, Divorced =
2, Widowed = 1. These numbers should be used only to classify
respondents. The number 1 does not denote the top classification. It is
used only to differentiate a single person (1) from a widowed person
(4).

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1. Nominal Level
• These data are categorical in nature; arithmetic operations
don’t make any sense (e.g. does Widowed ÷ 2 = Married?!)

• Other Examples for variables that often produce nominal-

level data: Gender, religion, geographic location, place of
birth, telephone numbers, ID numbers.

• Statistical techniques that are appropriate for analyzing

nominal data are limited.
 2-Ordinal Level
•Ordinal Data appear to be categorical in nature, but their values have an
order.

•In addition to nominal level capabilities, ordinal-level measurement can be

used to rank or order objects.

E.g. College course rating system:

poor = 1, fair = 2, good = 3, very good = 4, excellent = 5

•While its still not meaningful to do arithmetic on this data (e.g. does 2*fair =
very good?!), we can say things like:
excellent > poor or fair < very good
 2-Ordinal Level
• With ordinal data, the arithmetic differences between values are
meaningless.

E.g.: Education level:

illiterate = 1, Primary = 2, Secondary = 3, University = 4, Above University = 5

• Ranking responses is possible. However the differences between them

don’t have a meaning. The difference between primary and secondary
education is not necessarily the same as the difference between
secondary education and a university degree.

• Certain statistical techniques are specifically suited to ordinal data,

but many other techniques are not appropriate for use on ordinal data.
3-Interval Level
• Numerical data where the differences between the
values have a meaning and the ratios between them do
not.

• With interval-level data, the zero point is not a natural

or fixed zero point. Zero is just a point on the scale and
does not mean the absence of the phenomenon.
3-Interval Level
• E.g.: Temperature.

• Zero degrees 0ºC is not the lowest possible temperature. It does

not indicate the absence of a temperature degree. It is just the
freezing point of water.

• Not only a temperature of 30 ºC is hotter than 10 ºC but the same

difference of 20 degrees exists as between, 40ºC and 20ºC degrees
or between 100ºC and 80ºC degrees.

• However, we can not say that the ratio between 40ºC and 20 ºC,
for example, has a meaning ;i.e, 40 ºC is not twice as hot as 20 ºC.
4. Ratio Level
• The data have all the properties of interval data, but ratio data
have an absolute zero (fixed zero-not arbitrary) and the ratio of
two values is meaningful.
•E.g.: heights, weights, time,… etc.

• All Arithmetic operations can be performed on Ratio data,

thus its meaningful to say that an item that weighs 100 kg. is
one half as heavy as an item weighing 200 kg.

•The zero indicates that “nothing” exists for the variable at the
zero point.

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 Comparison of the Four Levels
of Data
• All calculations are permitted on ratio data.

• Most calculations are permitted on interval data,

except those depending on ratio.

• Only calculations involving a ranking process are

allowed for ordinal data.

• No calculations are allowed for nominal data.

However, we can count the number of observations in
each category.
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 Comparison of the Four Levels
of Data
• Higher level of data can be analyzed by any of the techniques used on
lower levels of data in addition to other statistical techniques
• Higher level data types may be treated as lower-level ones. But we cannot
treat lower level data types as higher level types.

• When we convert higher level data as lower level we lose information.

• E.g.
• If citizens of a certain country are classified into categories according to
their income, so that persons earning under 500 L.E. per month are
classified as poor, persons earning between 500 and 4000 are classified as
middle class and so on……It is clear that 300 pounds gives more
information about the economic level of the person than does the category
“poor”.
 Exercises
The following are results for a number of applicants to a
Teaching Assistant position:
Time to
Ranking
Marital complete
according to
status written
oral exam
exam
Single 38 Fourth
Married 33 First
Divorced 30 Second
Widowed 36 Third
Married 45 Fifth
Determine the level of measurement for each variable.
 Exercises
Determine the type of variable and level of
measurement for each of the following:
1.Student’s major in college.
2. Student’s grade in a Statistics course (A,B,C,D).
3. Colors of cars in a new cars shipment.
4. School bus numbers from 1 to 20.
5. Restaurants phone numbers.
6. Number of members in a committee.
7. Time taken to complete an English test.
8. National ID number.

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 Exercises
• In the following statement, specify the level of
measurement for each of the 5 variables in this
statement.

“He weighs 70 k.g. His mother is a teacher. He has

3 brothers. He got a B in the course.His hair is
black.”
 Exercises
In a survey conducted by a well-known journal, 5 questions
were asked about the respondents’ characteristics and interests.
State the measurement scale appropriate for the data provided
from each question.

a. What is your age?

b. Are you male or female?
c. When did you first start reading the journal? High school,
college, early career, midcareer, late career, or retirement?
d. How long have you been in your present job or position?
e. What type of car are you considering for your next purchase?
Nine response categories include sedan, sports car, …..and so on.