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Level of measurement or scale of measure is a classification that describes the nature of information within the values assigned to variables. [1] Psychologist Stanley Smith Stevens developed the best-known classification with four levels, or scales, of measurement: nominal , ordinal , interval , and ratio .
Ordinal data is a categorical, statistical data type where the variables have natural, ordered categories and the distances between the categories are not known. [1]: 2 These data exist on an ordinal scale, one of four levels of measurement described by S. S. Stevens in 1946.
For example, a scaling technique might involve estimating individuals' levels of extraversion, or the perceived quality of products. Certain methods of scaling permit estimation of magnitudes on a continuum, while other methods provide only for relative ordering of the entities. The level of measurement is the type of data that is measured.
The definition of measurement in the social sciences has a long history. A current widespread definition, proposed by Stanley Smith Stevens, is that measurement is "the assignment of numerals to objects or events according to some rule." This definition was introduced in a 1946 Science article in which Stevens proposed four levels of ...
The measurement of a property may be categorized by the following criteria: type, magnitude, unit, and uncertainty. [citation needed] They enable unambiguous comparisons between measurements. The level of measurement is a taxonomy for the methodological character of a comparison. For example, two states of a property may be compared by ratio ...
The concept of data type is similar to the concept of level of measurement, but more specific. For example, count data requires a different distribution (e.g. a Poisson distribution or binomial distribution) than non-negative real-valued data require, but both fall under the same level of measurement (a ratio scale). Various attempts have been ...
A rating scale is a set of categories designed to obtain information about a quantitative or a qualitative attribute. In the social sciences, particularly psychology, common examples are the Likert response scale and 0-10 rating scales, where a person selects the number that reflecting the perceived quality of a product.
For example, application of the model often indicates that the neutral category does not represent a level of attitude or trait between the disagree and agree categories. Not every set of Likert scaled items can be used for Rasch measurement. The data has to be thoroughly checked to fulfill the strict formal axioms of the model.