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Level of measurement or scale of measure is a classification that describes the nature of information within the values assigned to variables. [1] Psychologist Stanley Smith Stevens developed the best-known classification with four levels, or scales, of measurement: nominal , ordinal , interval , and ratio .
Stevens authored a milestone textbook, the 1400+ page Handbook of Experimental Psychology (1951). He was also one of the founding organizers of the Psychonomic Society. In 1946 he introduced a theory of levels of measurement widely used by scientists but whose use in some areas of statistics has been criticized. [3]
[9] [10] [11] The rationale for this perspective is that the Rasch model embodies requirements which must be met in order to obtain measurement, in the sense that measurement is generally understood in the physical sciences. A useful analogy for understanding this rationale is to consider objects measured on a weighing scale.
Scales constructed should be representative of the construct that it intends to measure. [6] It is possible that something similar to the scale a person intends to create will already exist, so including those scale(s) and possible dependent variables in one's survey may increase validity of one's scale.
Psychometrics deals with measurement of psychological attributes. It involves developing and applying statistical models for mental measurements. [2] The measurement theories are divided into two major areas: (1) Classical test theory; (2) Item Response Theory. [3]
For example, the scale location might represent the perceived quality of a product, or the perceived weight of an object. The BTL model, the Thurstonian model as well as the Rasch model for measurement are all closely related and belong to the same class of stochastic transitivity .
In 1946, psychologist Stanley Smith Stevens organized levels of measurement into four scales, Nominal, Ordinal, Ratio, and Interval, in a paper that is still often cited. [8]
A rating scale is a set of categories designed to obtain information about a quantitative or a qualitative attribute. In the social sciences , particularly psychology , common examples are the Likert response scale and 0-10 rating scales, where a person selects the number that reflecting the perceived quality of a product .