THE NOMINAL LEVEL IS THE FIRST LEVEL OF

MEASUREMENT, AND THE SIMPLEST. IT CLASSIFIES AND

LABELS VARIABLES QUALITATIVELY. IN OTHER WORDS, IT
DIVIDES THEM INTO NAMED GROUPS WITHOUT ANY
QUANTITATIVE MEANING. IT’S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT,
EVEN WHERE NUMBERS ARE USED TO LABEL DIFFERENT
CATEGORIES, THESE NUMBERS DON’T HAVE ANY
NUMERICAL VALUE.
• HAIR COLOR
HOW TO ANALYZE NOMINAL DATA

1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR NOMINAL DATA

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DESCRIBE OR SUMMARIZE THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUR DATASET.

TWO USEFUL DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR NOMINAL DATA

• HAIR COLOR
ARE:
•FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION
•MODE
A FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLE (E.G. A PIVOT TABLE)
SUMMARIZES HOW MANY RESPONSES THERE WERE FOR EACH
CATEGORY—FOR EXAMPLE, HOW MANY PEOPLE SELECTED
“BROWN HAIR,” HOW MANY SELECTED “BLONDE,” AND SO ON.
YOU CAN ALSO USE PERCENTAGES RATHER THAN COUNT, IN
WHICH CASE YOUR TABLE WILL SHOW YOU WHAT PERCENTAGE
OF THE OVERALL SAMPLE HAS WHAT COLOR HAIR.

HERE’S WHAT A PIVOT TABLE MIGHT LOOK LIKE FOR OUR HAIR
COLOR EXAMPLE, WITH BOTH COUNT AND PERCENTAGES:
THE MODE IS A MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY, AND
IT’S THE VALUE THAT APPEARS MOST FREQUENTLY IN
YOUR DATASET. SO, IF 38 OUT OF 129 QUESTIONNAIRE
RESPONDENTS HAVE GRAY HAIR, AND THAT’S THE
HIGHEST COUNT, THAT’S YOUR MODE.
• SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS
HOW TO ANALYZE ORDINAL DATA

THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS CAN BE USED TO

SUMMARIZE YOUR ORDINAL DATA:
•FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION 
•THE MODE AND/OR THE MEDIAN
•THE RANGE

FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION DESCRIBES, USUALLY IN TABLE

FORMAT, HOW YOUR ORDINAL DATA ARE DISTRIBUTED, WITH
VALUES EXPRESSED AS EITHER A COUNT OR A PERCENTAGE. LET’S
IMAGINE YOU’VE CONDUCTED A SURVEY ASKING PEOPLE HOW
PAINFUL THEY FOUND THE EXPERIENCE OF GETTING A TATTOO (ON A
SCALE OF 1-5).
HERE’S HOW YOUR FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLE MIGHT LOOK:
THE MODE AND THE MEDIAN ARE MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
(THE OTHER POSSIBLE MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY IS THE MEAN,
BUT THIS DOESN’T APPLY TO ORDINAL DATA). THE MODE IS, QUITE
SIMPLY, THE VALUE THAT APPEARS MOST FREQUENTLY IN YOUR
DATASET. IN OUR PIVOT TABLES, WE CAN SEE THAT THE PAIN RATING “5”
RECEIVED THE HIGHEST COUNT, SO THAT’S THE MODE.

THE MEDIAN IS THE MIDDLE VALUE IN YOUR DATASET, AND IT’S

USEFUL AS IT GIVES YOU AN INSIGHT INTO THE AVERAGE ANSWER OR
VALUE PROVIDED. IF YOU ARRANGED ALL SURVEY RESPONDENTS’
ANSWERS (I.E. THEIR PAIN RATING) IN ASCENDING ORDER, YOU COULD
WORK OUT THE MEDIAN (MIDDLE) VALUE. IN THE FOLLOWING
EXAMPLE, WE’VE HIGHLIGHTED THE MEDIAN IN RED:
IN A DATASET WHERE YOU HAVE AN ODD NUMBER OF RESPONSES
(AS WITH OURS, WHERE WE’VE IMAGINED A SMALL, HYPOTHETICAL
SAMPLE OF THIRTY), THE MEDIAN IS THE MIDDLE NUMBER. IN A
DATASET WITH AN EVEN NUMBER OF RESPONSES, THE MEDIAN IS
THE MEAN OF THE TWO MIDDLE NUMBERS. HOWEVER, BEAR IN
MIND THAT, WITH ORDINAL DATA, IT MAY NOT ALWAYS BE POSSIBLE
OR SENSICAL TO CALCULATE THE MEDIAN.
HOW TO ANALYZE INTERVAL DATA
1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR INTERVAL DATA
ONE OF THE FIRST STEPS IN THE DATA ANALYSIS PROCESS IS TO
SUMMARIZE YOUR DATA. FOR INTERVAL DATA, YOU CAN OBTAIN THE
FOLLOWING DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS:
•FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION
•THE MODE, MEDIAN,AND MEAN
•RANGE, STANDARD DEVIATION, AND VARIANCE 

AS WE SAW PREVIOUSLY WITH NOMINAL AND ORDINAL DATA, FREQUENCY

DISTRIBUTION PRESENTS A SUMMARY OF THE DATA IN A TABLE,
ALLOWING YOU TO SEE HOW FREQUENTLY EACH VALUE OCCURS (EITHER
AS A COUNT OR A PERCENTAGE).
THE MODE, MEDIAN, AND MEAN ARE ALL MEASURES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY. THE MODE IS THE MOST FREQUENTLY OCCURRING VALUE; THE
MEDIAN IS THE MIDDLE VALUE (REFER BACK TO THE 
SECTION ON ORDINAL DATA FOR MORE INFORMATION), AND THE MEAN IS
AN AVERAGE OF ALL VALUES. SO, TO CALCULATE THE MEAN, ADD ALL
VALUES TOGETHER AND THEN DIVIDE BY THE TOTAL NUMBER OF VALUES.

RANGE, STANDARD DEVIATION, AND VARIANCE ARE ALL MEASURES OF

VARIABILITY WITHIN YOUR DATASET. YOU CAN CALCULATE THE RANGE BY
SUBTRACTING THE LOWEST VALUE IN YOUR DATASET FROM THE HIGHEST.
STANDARD DEVIATION CALCULATES, ON AVERAGE, HOW MUCH EACH
INDIVIDUAL SCORE DEVIATES FROM THE MEAN, ALLOWING YOU TO GAUGE
HOW YOUR DATA ARE DISTRIBUTED.
HOW TO ANALYZE RATIO DATA

1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR RATIO DATA

YOU CAN USE THE SAME DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS TO SUMMARIZE
RATIO DATA AS YOU WOULD FOR INTERVAL DATA (WITH THE ADDITION
OF COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION). 

•FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION: THIS SHOWS YOU HOW FREQUENTLY EACH

VALUE OCCURS WITHIN YOUR DATASET, AND IS OFTEN PRESENTED AS A
TABLE. THE FREQUENCY CAN BE EXPRESSED AS EITHER A COUNT OR A
PERCENTAGE.
•MODE, MEDIAN, OR MEAN: THE MODE IS THE VALUE THAT OCCURS MOST
FREQUENTLY IN YOUR DATASET, WHILE THE MEDIAN IS THE MIDDLE VALUE.
THE MEAN VALUE IS THE AVERAGE OF ALL VALUES WITHIN YOUR DATASET.
THE MODE, MEDIAN, AND MEAN ARE ALL MEASURES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY WHICH HELP YOU TO GAUGE HOW YOUR DATA ARE
DISTRIBUTED.

•RANGE, STANDARD DEVIATION, VARIANCE, AND COEFFICIENT OF
VARIATION ALL SHOW YOU THE VARIABILITY WITHIN YOUR DATASET.
COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION IS UNIQUE TO RATIO DATA BECAUSE IT’S A
FRACTION, CALCULATED BY DIVIDING THE STANDARD DEVIATION BY THE
MEAN.
   MEANINGFUL
CLASSIFICATION ORDER ABSOLUTE ZERO
DIFFERENCE

 
NOMINAL LEVEL YES NO NO NO

ORDINAL LEVEL YES YES NO NO

INTERVAL LEVEL YES YES YES NO

RATIO LEVEL YES YES YES YES

PREPARED BY:

CECILIA MINOZO
JERMELYN C TAYAB
BSSW 2A