Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
percentage, mode, median, chi-square test,
etc.
(b) Ordinal Scale
An ordinal scale is a one-step upgradation of a
nominal scale. Ordinal scales place events in
order, but the intervals between two consecu-
tive orders may not be equal. Ranking and
gradation are examples of ordinal scales. In
an ordinal scale of measurement, there is a
sense of greater than or less than, and
5.2
Measurement
Human instinct is to quantify the things in our
daily life. As a result, we measure height, weight,
age, length, etc. We also try to measure how
good a painting is, how good a story is, how
good a drama is, how best a new technology is
adopted by a farmer is, etc. Measurement is rela-
tively complex and must be a “to do” type of
activity. By and large, by measurement, we mean
the process of assigning numbers to objects or
observations. The level of measurement is a
function which dictates numbers to be assigned
to the objects or observations. Measurement is a
process of mapping aspects of a domain onto
other aspects of a range according to some rule
of correspondence. In assigning numbers to
objects or observations, there are two aspects to
be considered: (a) assigning numbers in respect
of the property of some object and (b) assigning
numbers relative to others. The second aspect is
relatively difficult. Measuring social integrity,
intelligence, varietal adjustments, etc., requires
close observations and attentions compared to
measuring physical quantities like height,
weight, and age. In the measuring process, one
needs to have some scales. In fact, in literature,
one can find different scales of measurement;
sometimes, these are also known as levels of
measurement. Mostly one can find a (a)
events
are categorized not only to provide numbers
but also to indicate the order of events
. This
scale has no absolute zero point. Though the
intervals are unequal, the ordinal scale
provides more information than the nominal
scales by virtue of their ordering properties of
the events. Cricket players may be ranked or
graded according to their performance popu-
larity. Thus, the top 10 players will be having
numbers assigned to them starting from 1 to
10, with the most popular performer being
assigned as number 1. In economic surveys,
families may be categorized into poor, lower
middle class, upper middle class, higher
income group, etc. Thus, this grouping not
only assigns particular group to a family
concerned, but also it describes its position in
relative to others. The variables measured with
ordinal scales can be put under statistical
calculations like median, percentile, rank cor-
relation coefficient, and chi-square test.
(c) Interval Scale
Interval scales of measurement are further
improved over an ordinal scale of measure-
ment. In this type of measurement, scale
numbers are assigned to objects or events
which can be ordered like those of ordinal
scale
nominal
,
(b)
ordinal
, (c)
interval
, and (d)
ratio scale/levels
of measurement.
(a) Nominal Scale
In this type of scaling system, numbers are
assigned to objects just to level them. The
numbers provided on the jersey of a player
are simply to recognize a player with that
particular number. It has nothing to do with
the capability of the player or his/her order or
grade. Nominal scales just provide an easy
way of tracking the objects or people or
events. Nominal scale has no order or distant
relationship or no arithmetic origin. Nominal
scales are generally useful in social and eco-
nomical research studies and also in ex post
facto research. The variables measured under
a nominal scale can be put to get a frequency
with an added feature of equal distance
between the scale values
. An interval scale
can have an arbitrary zero, but it may not
be possible to determine what could be called
an absolute zero. In this type of scaling, for
example, one can say that the increase in
temperature from 40 to 50
C is the same as
that of 80-90
C, but one cannot be sure that
80
C temperature is twice as warm as 40
C
temperature. Incorporations of concepts of
equality of intervals make the interval scale
