SARA | The Non-Profit – SCALES OF MEASUREMENT

Scales of Measurement:

The scales of measurement are a way to classify data based on their attributes and the mathematical operations that can be performed on them.

They are classified into four types:

Categorizes data without any order or rank.

Variable	Example Values
Gender	Male, Female, Non-binary
Religion	Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist
Marital Status	Single, Married, Divorced, Widowed
Political Party	BJP, Congress, AAP, CPI
Blood Type	A, B, AB, O
Nationality	Indian, German, Australian, Argentinian
Color Names	Red, Blue, Green, Yellow
Types of Transport	Bus, Train, Bicycle, Car
Academic Discipline	Sociology, Physics, History, Economics

Data with a meaningful order but unequal intervals.

Variable	Example Values	Notes
Education Level	Primary < Secondary < Graduate < Postgraduate	Rank exists, but interval not equal
Socioeconomic Status	Low < Middle < High	Ordered categories
Agreement Level	Strongly Disagree < Disagree < Neutral < Agree < Strongly Agree	Likert scale
Customer Satisfaction	Very Unsatisfied < Unsatisfied < Neutral < Satisfied < Very Satisfied	Common in surveys
Military Ranks	Captain < Major < Colonel	Hierarchical but no fixed interval
Class Position	First < Second < Third	Ranks exist, differences unknown
Pain Level (self-reported)	No pain < Mild < Moderate < Severe	Ordered, subjective

Ordered data with equal intervals but no true zero point.

Variable	Explanation
Temperature in °C or °F	The difference between 20°C and 30°C is the same as between 30°C and 40°C, but 0°C ≠ no temperature.
IQ Scores	An IQ of 120 is 20 points more than 100, but not “twice as intelligent” as someone with 60.
Calendar Years	2020 and 2025 are 5 years apart, but 0 AD is not the start of time.
Time of Day (on a 12-hr or 24-hr clock)	6 PM is 3 hours after 3 PM, but 0:00 (midnight) is not a true zero.
Standardized Test Scores	E.g., SAT or GRE scores — differences are meaningful, but zero doesn’t mean “no knowledge.”

Ordered data with equal intervals and a true zero point.

Variable	Example Values	True Zero?	Notes
Height	160 cm, 170 cm, 180 cm	Yes	0 cm = no height
Weight	50 kg, 70 kg, 0 kg	Yes	You can say 70 kg is twice as heavy as 35 kg
Income	₹0, ₹10,000, ₹50,000	Yes	0 = no income
Age	0 years, 25 years, 50 years	Yes	0 = no age
Distance	0 km, 5 km, 10 km	Yes	0 = no distance
Duration (time)	0 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour	Yes	0 = no time elapsed
Number of Children	0, 1, 2, 3	Yes	0 = no children
Calories consumed	0 kcal, 500 kcal, 2000 kcal	Yes	0 = no calories
Marks or Scores (raw)	0 to 100	Yes	0 = no correct answers