unit 1: levels of measurement

levels of measurement

rules for assigning numbers to objects (nominal→ ordinal → interval→ ratio)

nominal

-lowest form

-exclusive and exhaustive

ex: gender, race, ethnicity

ordinal

-exclusive and exhaustive

-categories that can be rank ordered

-values do NOT have equal distances btwn. them

-ex: pain scale

nonparametric statistics

-used to analyze nominal and ordinal level variables

-values don’t need to be equally distributed

mode

-nominal level data

-most frequently occurring in a data set

median

-ordinal level data

-middle value in a data set

interval

-distance btwn. intervals of the scale are equal

-exclusive and exhaustive

-NO absolute zero (can go below zero)

-ex: temperature

ratio

-highest form of measurement

-exclusive and exhaustive

-numerically equal intervals of a scale

-IS an absolute zero (can’t go below zero)

-ex: pulse, BP, age

parametric statistics

-used on interval and ratio levels of data

-variables are continuous

significant results

-results that align with the outcomes predicted by the researcher/team

-usually identified by an * or p values less than or equal to 0.05