MEASUREMENT

SCALES
AND
TYPES
Measurement
What is measurement: it is adopted from Old French word
“mesurement”. It is systematic process of assignment of values (i.e.
digits, symbols or even words) to objects or events.
That is why measurement includes not only quantitative as well as
qualitative objects. Like e.g. One dozen bananas is quantitative, where
as rainbow is qualitative as it consists of different colors.
It should be kept in mind that measurement is done
according to magnitude and dimension.

The magnitude denotes level of measurement i.e.

either it is simple or complex. Whereas dimension
shows the facets or characteristics of objects.

Often complex level of measurement is adopted in case

of examining multiple characteristics of objects.
For e.g. Gender is simple term, it has two dimensions
(characteristics), i.e. either male or female. So it will
be measured at simple level.

On the other side, Population is complex term, it has

many dimensions (characteristics), i.e. small, large/
urban, rural/old, mid, young… so we need complex
level of measurement.
Types of Measurement : There are four types of
measurement Scales, i.e. Nominal Scale, Ordinal
Scale, Interval scale and Ratio scale. They are made
according to following mapping rules:
• Classification: only numbers are used to group or sort
objects
• Order: numbers are in sequence or order, like one
number is greater than other
• Distance: difference or variance between numbers
• Origin: numbers have unique origin indicated by zero
or lowest level
Nominal Scale: it is simplest scale, it has only
classification but no order, distance and origin.
Example , gender= male and female. Classification
such as martial status, gender and job position like
variables could be measured with this scale.
Ordinal Scale: It has classification, order but no
distance and origin. The ordinal scale speak of
“greater than” or “lesser than” measurement.
Example of ordinal data include opinion and
preference. Like for e.g. Are you motivated?
Response to this question can be categorized
into
Strongly Agree Neutral Agree Strong
Disagree Agree
Interval Scale: It has classification, order and distance,
but no unique origin. This scale has power of nominal
and ordinal scales plus one additional strength, i.e.
distance. For example calendar time. Like there is 24
hours interval between one day to another one.
Ratio Scale: It has classification, order, distance, and
unique origin. Thus it incorporate all powers.
Measures of physical dimensions such as weight,
height, distance and area are examples. In social
sciences this scale is rarely used.