Please identify and define the four levels of measurement. In your answer please provide an example variable for each level of measurement.

What will be an ideal response?

A nominal measurement is involved whenever the values assigned to a variable represent only different categories or classifications for that variable. In such a case, no category is more or less than another category; they are simply different. An ordinal measurement assumes that a comparison can be made on which observations have more or less of a particular attribute. With an interval measurement the intervals between the categories or values assigned to the observations do have meaning. The value of a particular observation is important not just in terms of whether it is larger or smaller than another value (as in ordinal measures) but also in terms of how much larger or smaller it is. The final level of measurement is a ratio measurement. This type of measurement involves the full mathematical properties of numbers. That is, the values of the categories order the categories, tell something about the intervals between the categories, and state precisely the relative amounts of the variable that the categories represent. The students should also include an example of each level of measurement. Alternatively, this question could be rewritten as a short answer question by removing the requirement of providing an example of each level of measurement.