The Levels Of Measurements Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

Levels of measurement
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Levels of measurements
Measurement involves judgment of the size of things. In most cases, people judge concerning what they think about particular outcomes. Values are assigned to outcomes and in this case, they form the measurement of the outcome. According to Stephens (1951, cited by Salkind, 2012), there are four levels of measurement; they are nominal level, ordinal level, interval level and ratio level. All kinds of measurements can be classified into one of these levels.
The nominal level of measurement is used to classify discrete variables in categories considering their quality instead of quantity (Salkind, 2012). For instance, having a group of wild animals that constitute of lions and giraffes, they can be grouped into two groups; A Lions and B Giraffes. Numbers that may be used in nominal measurement have no value. The second level of measurement is ordinal; according to Salkind (2012), variables under ordinal can be ranked. For example, first, second, third and fourth; in this case, ordinal measures discrete variables since there is no rank such as 1.23.
Interval is the third level of measurement; it measures the variables that have numbers as their values; for instance, recording the body temperature of children suffering from malaria. There equal interval between the variables, for instance, the number of days in a week. Some calculations can be performed under interval, for example getting the difference between the values. The variables for ratio have the same criteria as interval; however, they have a meaningful zero. All the four calculations can be performed at the ratio level.
Knowing the levels of measurement has many advantages to a researcher. To start with, after the research; the scientist has many alternatives of assessing the outcome of the research. There is, therefore, need for the scientist to understand which type of measurement can apply to the kind of research being performed. Having the knowledge about each measurement; for instance, strength and weakness, forms the basis of deciding what level of measurement will provide the information required from the variables being studied. Some research outcomes require accurate data which certain levels of measurement cannot give; thus inappropriate choice might result to inaccurate results. For example, if one is needed to determine the numerical difference of two valuables after a research, levels such as nominal and ordinal may not provide the required information, thus, the choice of these levels would mislead the researcher. The level of measurement also dictates the types of instruments to be used in analyzing data; for instance, the statistical computer program has been designed to investigate the variables that fit certain criteria. The interval and ratio variables are interpreted col...