Table 1

Levels of Measurement
Level Description
Nominal  Variables whose categories cannot be ranked – ordered and have
name value only
 Variables of this type have at least two categories, as with sex,
profession, school attended, country or residence, race and
religion. Inclusion in a category is binary: a subject either belongs
or does not belong.
Ordinal  Variables whose categories can be rank-ordered but the distances
between the categories are not equal across the range
 Examples are social class, opinions solicited on a questionnaire,
or job position in a hierarchy. The intervals between ranks are not
assumed to be equal, thus the difference between the first and
second is not necessarily the same as the difference between the
second and third.
Interval  Variables where the distances between the categories are
identical across the range but there is no zero point where the trait
does not exist.
 An example is IQ scores, for which zero would have no meaning
Ratio  Variables where the distances between the categories are
identical across the range, but there is an absolute zero and it has
meaning – there is nothing there
 For example, scores on an achievement test (how many points out
of 10) can have a score of zero, indicating a total lack of skills and
knowledge on the topic.
Source: Bryman (2008) and Black (1999)

Ways in which indicators can be devised

 Through a question (or series of questions) – the questions could be concerned with the
respondents’ report of an attitude (ex. job satisfaction), their social situation (ex.
poverty), their behavior (ex. leisure pursuits).
 Through the recording of individuals’ behavior using a structured observation schedule
(ex. pupil behavior in a classroom)
 Through official statistics, such as the use of crime statistics to measure criminal
behavior.
 Through an examination of mass media content through content analysis, for example,
to determine changes in the salience of an issue, such as AIDS, in mass media.
Why measure?

The important roles of measurement in quantitative research are as follows:

 Measurement allows us to delineate fine differences between people in terms of the
characteristics in question.
 Measurement gives us a consistent device or yardstick for making distinctions. This
consistency relates to two things: ability to be consistent over time and our ability to be
consistent with other researchers.
 Measurement provides the basis for more precise estimates of the degree of
relationship between concepts.