Something that's hard to me but should be easy specific, situation, difference, one, ask

gjcxc

Ordering scales:

Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio

Anyone have a good way to differentiate between these or know how the exam likes to ask these questions? I almost always screw up these questions even though the explanations of each one makes sense in the Schweser notes. My problem is that when they ask about a specific situation I usually can't figure out the difference between ones that are close to each other.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Monday, November 30, 2009 at 02:06PM by KSTHANE.

studyn

That actually does help a lot...do you have a different example for interval though? How can a person not think that 40 deg is half as warm as 80 deg? I think maybe temperature as an example just doesn't work for me. Zero degrees sure as hell seems like the absence of heat to me.

sgupta0827

Hi KSTHANE

You've got it backwards, height is a Ratio and temperature is an Interval. Check out reading 7, in Schweser they provide a good definition of each.

Ratio is similar to Interval, except that it has a "true zero". I know that there is a temperature = 0, but whats the difference between a temperature of +1 and -1, just a little colder. Whereas a difference between +1 and -1 with cash is two different states, one you have money and the other you owe money (the same can be said with height, speed etc).

Nominal scale – observations are classified with no attention to their order/ sequence.
Ordinal scale – observations are ordered with respect to a particular characteristic.
Interval scale – difference between observation scales are equal (e.g. temperature).
Ratio scale – most refined, provides equal distance between scale values and a true zero (e.g. cash).

Cheers

nitoha

I've got that much already, it's when they ask specific situations that I get tripped up.

Thinking out loud....height is an interval scale, right? Is temperature a ratio scale? 90 degrees is twice as hot as 45 degrees it seems to me.

Jolyn

KSTHANE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Is temperature a ratio scale? 90 degrees
> is twice as hot as 45 degrees it seems to me.


Actually, 90 degrees Fahrenheit is only 8.92% hotter than 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

johnnyBuz

NOIR - French for black.

Just remember that N-nothing (meaning loosest form of ordering) R-rigorus (strongest form of ordering)

Thats how i remember it.

__________

"good personality ... or he was known as Lt. Mandingo during his army days."