Module 1: Variables and Measurement Scales

A national survey of smoking behavior classifies respondents into four ethnic groups: white non-Hispanic, black non-Hispanic, Hispanic, and other non-Hispanic. What is the level of measurement for this variable?

Nominal 

Which of the following variables is measured on a nominal scale? 

Ethnicity

Which of the following variables is measured on an interval (i.e., numeric, continuous) scale?

IQ

A study examining college student texting behavior asks the following questions:

1. How many times per hour do you send a text message? “0", "1-5", 6-10", “11–50”, “50 or more". 

2. Texting a friend while having a phone conversation with another friend is acceptable behavior:  “Strongly Disagree”, "Disagree", "Neutral", "Agree", “Strongly Agree”

Which question would psychologists say most closely approximates an interval (i.e., numeric, continuous) measurement scale?

Question 2

A computer-administered measure of prejudice presents participants with a statement about a particular ethic group and then records the amount of time it takes participants to respond to the prompt.  What is the level of measurement for the reaction time variable?

Interval (i.e., numeric, continous)

Which of the following describes the relationship between a sample and a population?

 

We analyze data from a sample of participants, with the goal of learning something about an entire population potential participants

Which of the following variables is measured on an interval (i.e., numeric, continuous) scale? 

 

Time (in minutes) spent on social media per day

A national survey of smoking behavior classifies respondents as non-smokers, non-daily smokers, and daily smokers. What is the level of measurement for this variable? 

Ordinal

Which of the following variables is measured on an interval scale?

 

Number of days per month having at least one alcoholic drink

Which of the following variables is measured on a nominal scale?

 

Political affiliation