Nominal Scale: Definition

A Nominal Scale is a measurement scale, in which numbers serve as “tags” or “labels” only, to
identify or classify an object. A nominal scale measurement normally deals only with non-
numeric (quantitative) variables or where numbers have no value.

Nominal Scale Examples

 Gender
 Political preferences
 Place of residence

There are four variable measurement scales: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. These
measurement scales are ways to categorize different variables (an element, feature or factor that
is likely to vary). By default, all variables fall in one of the four scales mentioned above.
Understanding their properties and assigning variables to one of the four measurement scales is
important mathematically because they determine what mathematical operations are allowed.

Nominal scale possesses only the description characteristic which means it possesses unique
labels to identify or delegate values to the items. When nominal scale is used for the purpose of
identification, there is a strict one-to-one correlation between an object and the numeric value
assigned to it. For example, numbers are written on cars in a racing track. The numbers are there
merely to identify the driver associated with the car, it has nothing to do with characteristics of
the car.

But when nominal scale is used for the purpose of classification, then the numbers assigned to
the object serve as tags to categorize or arrange objects in class. For example, in the case of a
gender scale, an individual can be categorized either as male or female. In this case, all objects in
the category will have the same number, for example, all males can be no. 1 and all females can
be no. 2. Please note, that nominal is purely used for counting purposes.
 From a statistics point of view nominal scale is one of the easiest to understand measurement
scale. As mentioned earlier, nominal scale is assigned to items that are not quantitative or
number oriented.

For example, let’s assume we have 5 colors, orange, blue, red, black and yellow. We could
number them in any order we like either 1 to 5 or 5 to 1 in ascending or descending order. Here
numbers are assigned to colors only to identify them. Another example of nominal scale from a
research activity point to view is YES/NO scale. It essentially has no order.

Characteristics of Nominal Scale

1. In nominal scale a variable is divided into two or more categories, for example,
agree/disagree, yes or no etc. It’s is a measurement mechanism in which answer to a particular
question can fall into either category.
2. Nominal scale is qualitative in nature, which means numbers are used here only to
categorize or identify objects. For example, football fans will be really excited, as the
football world cup is around the corner! Have you noticed numbers on a jersey of a
football player? These numbers have nothing to do with the ability of players, however,
they can help identify the player.
3. In nominal scale, numbers don’t define the characteristics related to the object, which means
each number is assigned to one object. The only permissible aspect related to numbers in a
nominal scale is “counting.”
Learn more: Quantitative Research

Nominal Scale Examples

Here are some of the examples of nominal measurement that will help in understand this
measurement scale better.

1. How would you describe your behavioral pattern?

 E-Extroverted
 I-Introverted
 A-Ambivert
2. What is your gender?
 M-Male
 F-Female
3. Could you please select an option from below to describe your hair color.
 1-Black
 2-Brown
 3-Burgundy
 4-Auburn
 5-Other
There is a subtype in nominal scale with only two categories like one of the nominal scale
examples mentioned above: Gender- Male/Female.

Or, do you own an iPhone? The answer could be Yes/No.

This subtype is known as dichotomous nominal scale.

Conclusion
The point of this concluding note in this blog is to keep everyone informed, that the classification
of variables according to their measurement is useful in concluding which analytical procedure is
useful for a researcher.

In nominal scale, it is easy to generate responses using close ended questions, a lot of responses
can be collected in short period of time, which in turn increases reliability. However, there is a
downside to the scale, without a linear scale, participants are unable to express their degrees of
response.

Ordinal Scale Definition

Ordinal scale is the 2nd level of measurement that reports the ranking and ordering of the data
without actually establishing the degree of variation between them. Ordinal level of
measurement is the second of the four measurement scales.

“Ordinal” indicates “order”. Ordinal data is quantitative data which have naturally occurring
orders and the difference between is unknown. It can be named, grouped and also ranked.

For example:

“How satisfied are you with our products?” “How happy are you with the customer service?”

 1- Totally Satisfied  1- Very Unhappy

 2- Satisfied  2- Unhappy

 3- Neutral  3- Neutral

 4- Dissatisfied  4- Unhappy

 5- Totally Dissatisfied  5- Very Unhappy

Thus, an ordinal scale is used as a comparison parameter to understand whether the variables are
greater or lesser than one another using sorting. The central tendency of the ordinal scale is
Median.
 Likert Scale is an example of why the interval difference between ordinal variables cannot be
concluded. In this scale the answer options usually polar such as, “Totally satisfied” to “Totally
dissatisfied”.

The intensity of difference between these options can’t be related to specific values as the
difference value between totally satisfied and totally dissatisfied will be much larger than the
difference between satisfied and neutral. If someone loves Mercedes Benz cars and is asked
“How likely are you to recommend Mercedes Benz to your friends and family?” will be troubled
to choose between Extremely likely and Likely. Thus, an ordinal scale is used when the order of
options is to be deduced and not when the interval difference is also to be established.

Ordinal Scale Characteristics

 Along with identifying and describing the magnitude, the ordinal scale shows the relative
rank of variables.

 The properties of the interval are not known.

 Measurement of non-numeric attributes such as frequency, satisfaction, happiness etc.

 In addition to the information provided by nominal scale, ordinal scale identifies the rank
of variables.

 Using this scale, survey makers can analyze the degree of agreement among respondents
with respect to the identified order of the variables.

Learn about: Interval Scale and Ratio Scale

Ordinal Scale Examples

Ordinal Scale Examples

This scale not only assigns values to the variables but also measures the rank
or order of the variables, such as:

 Grades
 Satisfaction
 Happiness

 Ranking of high school students – 1st, 3rd, 4th, 10th… Nth. A student scoring 99/100
would be the 1st rank, another student scoring 92/100 would be 3rd and so on and so
forth.

 Rating surveys in restaurants – When a waiter gets a paper or online survey with a
question: “How satisfied are you with the dining experience?” having 0-10 option, 0
being extremely dissatisfied and 10 being extremely satisfied.

 Likert Scale – The Likert scale is a variant of the ordinal scale that is used to
calculate customer or employee satisfaction.

 Understanding the socio-economic background of the target audience– Rich, middle

class, poor etc. fall under the ordinal data category.

 The frequency of occurrence – Questions such as “How frequently do you have to get the
phone repaired?”

 Very often

 Often

 Not Often

 Not at all

 Evaluating the degree of agreement – State your level of agreement with the company
policies:
  Totally agree

 Agree

 Neutral

 Disagree

 Totally disagree

 Understanding preferences: If a marketer conducts surveys to understand which laptop

brand do their respondents do not prefer, they can use the ordinal scale. Out of the five
mentioned laptop brand, rate the order of preference –

 HP

 Apple

 Lenovo

 Dell

 Acer

Advantages of Ordinal Scale

 The primary advantage of using ordinal scale is the ease of comparison between
variables.

 Extremely convenient to group the variables after ordering them.

 Effectively used in surveys, polls, and questionnaires due to the simplicity of analysis and
categorization. Collected responses are easily compared to draw impactful conclusions
about the target audience.

 As the values are indicated in a relative manner using a linear rating scale, the results are
more informative than the nominal scale.

Ratio Scale: Definition

Ratio scale is a type of variable measurement scale which is quantitative in nature. Ratio scale
allows any researcher to compare the intervals or differences. Ratio scale is the 4th level of
measurement and possesses a zero point or character of origin. This is a unique feature of ratio
scale. For example, the temperature outside is 0-degree Celsius. 0 degree doesn’t mean it’s not
hot or cold, it is a value.

Following example of ratio level of measurement to help understand the scale better.

Please select which age bracket do you fall in?

 Below 20 years

 21-30 years

 31-40 years

 41-50 years

 50 years and above

Ratio scale has most of the characteristics of the other three variable measurement scale i.e
nominal, ordinal and interval. Nominal variables are used to “name,” or label a series of values.
Ordinal scales provide a sufficiently good amount of information about the order of choices,
such as one would be able to understand from using a customer satisfaction survey. Interval
scales give us the order of values and also about the ability to quantify the difference between
each one. Ratio scale helps to understand the ultimate-order, interval, values, and the true zero
characteristic is an essential factor in calculating ratios.

A ratio scale is the most informative scale as it tends to tell about the order and number of the
object between the values of the scale. The most common examples of ratio scale are height,
money, age, weight etc. With respect to market research, the common examples that are
observed are sales, price, number of customers, market share etc.

Learn more: Ratio Data- Definition, Characteristics, and Example

Characteristics of Ratio Scale

1. Ratio scale, as mentioned earlier has an absolute zero characteristic. It has orders and
equally distanced value between units. The zero point characteristic makes it relevant or
meaningful to say, “one object has twice the length of the other” or “is twice as long.”
2. Ratio scale doesn’t have a negative number, unlike interval scale because of the absolute
zero or zero point characteristic. To measure any object on a ratio scale, researchers must first
see if the object meets all the criteria for interval scale plus has an absolute zero characteristic.

3. Ratio scale provides unique possibilities for statistical analysis. In ratio scale, variables
can be systematically added, subtracted, multiplied and divided (ratio). All statistical analysis
including mean, mode, the median can be calculated using ratio scale. Also, chi-square can be
calculated on ratio scale variable.

4. Ratio scale has ratio scale units which have several unique and useful properties. One of
them is they allow unit conversion. Take an example of calculation of energy flow. Several units
of energy occur like Joules, gram-calories, kilogram-calories, British thermal units. Still more
units of energy per unit time (power) exist kilocalories per day, liters of oxygen per hour, ergs,
and Watts.

Ratio Scale Examples

The following are the most commonly used examples for ratio scale:

1. What is your height in feet and inches?

 Less than 5 feet.

 5 feet 1 inch – 5 feet 5 inches

 5 feet 6 inches- 6 feet

 More than 6 feet

2. What is your weight in kgs?

 Less than 50 kgs

 51- 70 kgs

 71- 90 kgs

 91-110 kgs

 More than 110 kgs

3. How much time do you spend daily watching television?

 Less than 2 hours

 3-4 hours

 4-5 hours

 5-6 hours

 More than 6 hours

Let us take the example of speed to understand this scale better.

Physics defines speed as speed is the distance traveled per unit time. Here the unit for time can
be kept constant and a unit for distance traveled can vary, for example, can be in kilometers or
miles which means 20 km/hour is equivalent to 12.43 mph.

If you have seen cars in Canada, the speedometer in the car has both miles and km on it.

Advantages of Ratio Scale

 A ratio scale has a point zero characteristic, where the value of the variable has no value
at all. Weight, height etc can be calculated on ratio scale because they have a real zero
value. However, the temperature cannot be measured on this scale because zero degree
 celsius doesn’t mean there is no cold or heat for that matter. But most of the scientific
variables can be measured on a ratio scale.

 Point zero is an essential characteristic to measure a ratio between any two variables
because in the absence of zero there is no ratio. So without a zero would it make any
sense to say, “Tom is driving at a speed of 100 km/hour, which is double the speed at
which Thelma is driving, which is 50 Km/hr?”

 This scale is used to calculate all the scientific variables. In fact, in the absence of a ratio
scale, scientific variables cannot be measured.

Interval Scale: Definition

The interval scale is defined as a quantitative measurement scale where the difference between 2
variables is meaningful. Interval scale is the 3rd level of measurement. In other words, the
variables are measured in actuals and not as a relative manner, where the presence of zero is
arbitrary. This means that the difference between two variables on a scale is an actual and equal
distance. For example, difference between 68 degrees F and 58 degrees F is the exact same as
101 degrees F and 91 degrees F. In this example, you can not say that 98 degrees F is double the
temperature in terms of “heat” or “cold” of 49 degrees F. This is because there is no absolute
zero on the Fahrenheit scale – that is at zero temperature doesn’t exist.

It is easy to remember the objective of this scale as “interval” equates to the interval or distance
between 2 variables. Another easy way to remember interval scale is that subtraction is defined
between the two variables. This is unlike the ratio scale where division is defined between two
variables.

Interval scales are numeric scales in which we know both the order and the exact differences between
the values. The classic example of an interval scale is Celsius temperature because the difference
between each value is the same. For example, the difference between 60 and 50 degrees is a
measurable 10 degrees, as is the difference between 80 and 70 degrees.

Interval scales are nice because the realm of statistical analysis on these data sets opens up. For
example, central tendency can be measured by mode, median, or mean; standard deviation can also
be calculated.
Interval data can be discrete – with whole numbers like 8 degrees, 4 years, 2 months etc. or
continuous – with fractional numbers like 12.2 degrees, 3.5 weeks or 4.2 miles.

This statistical method is also known as scale, quantitative or parametric.

Learn more: Interval Data- Definition and Example

Characteristics of interval scale

The characteristics of interval scale are as follows:

1. The interval scale is preferred to nominal scale or ordinal scale because the latter two are
qualitative scales; and the interval scale is quantitative in the sense that it can quantify the
difference between values.

2. You can subtract values between two variables that helps understand the difference
between 2 variables.

3. The interval scale allows to calculate the mean and median of variables.

4. This is a preferred scale in statistics because you can assign a numerical value to any
arbitrary assessment such as feelings or different calendar types like Gregorian, Aztecan,
or Buddhist calendars where the variable inputs are the same metrics.

Interval scale examples

The interval scale is the most commonly used question types in a research study. To get any
answer type, it is imperative that the question asked requires the respondents to answer on a
numerical scale where the difference between the two numbers is equal.

You have probably seen the following scales used in a research study – agreement, satisfaction
levels, likelihood or want. In the interval scale, the survey is required to be designed in such a
way that the dimension too be measured is scaled appropriately and this can be anchored
ideographically, numerically or verbally.

The question types for interval scales are:

 Likert Scale
One of the most commonly used interval scale question, the question is arranged in a 5
point Likert Scale question where the each emotion is denoted with a number and the variables
range from extremely dissatisfied to extremely satisfied.

 Net Promoter Score (NPS)

In this interval question, the question is asked using a Net Promoter Score (NPS) question where
the respondents reply on a scale of 1-10 how likely they are to refer a company/product/service
to a peer and in aids in calculating how happy a customer is or not.

 Bipolar Matrix Table

Another interval question is where an object is assessed by the respondent on a bipolar matrix
table (using 5-point rating scale):
Conclusion

The interval scale gives the ability to quantify and differentiate between options. This is better
than the nominal scale and the ordinal scale as they do not account for quantitative insights. The
interval scale consists of variables that exist along a common scale at equal intervals. The
scientific measures used to calculate the distance between the variables is highly reliable.

Although in an interval scale, since there is an absence of the absolute 0 and it works on the
principal of an arbitrary 0, the division of variables is not possible. So whilst interval scale
allows for a lot of data to be analysed from a question, it doesn’t have the ability to calculate
ratios.