Outcome #3
In research, one of the main components that the focus is on is by seeing the
measurements. This part is the process observing and recording the observations that are
collected during research. There are four different levels of measurements that can be found. The
different levels of measurements are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. This is important to
know because each measurement of variables can provide different kinds of detail. This can be
very imperative to use while one is doing research on any topic. Having knowledge on knowing
what the levels of measurements because this can also help understand the data from that topic or
variable. While doing this, it also allows to see what kind of analysis should be brought in. This
was one of the few steps in for a research that was done for Pols 300. IT was quite challenging
trying to find the right measurement that would fit into the research. To find the right analysis
was very important to get because each kind of measurement that would be used can come up
with different results. Now to get into the specific measurements and what these measurements
mean.
Many researchers doing papers can be confused at first to decide which level of
measurement would be right for them to use. One of the first levels of measurements is the
nominal level. With nominal level, this measurement is at which arbitrary numerals or symbols
are used to classify people, objects, or characteristics. The nominal level also provides not that
much detail and is actually the last ranking form the rest. What this levels tries to do is to place
people in different groups. One example can be from Rocco Pendola, she used “McDonald
mentions a common nominal variable – gender (male or female). Other examples include
political affiliation, hair color, and beverage preference” (Pendola, 2017). This is a clear
example if you want to put certain people in groups. Just like doing in a survey where it is
typically easy options to choose from and many know that the answers fit the people. Another
example of what can be nominal can be simple yes or no questions. There would be very little
detail coming from the variable because the type of measurement that was used was nominal. If
someone is looking for results that have very little detail for their research, then this is the right
level of measurement that should be used. This was once an option that was going to be used
when for an assignment, there had to be a survey given around in to school to see if the students
are happy. Since picking the wrong type of measurement, the results that ended up coming were
little help to decide on what can be improved for the school. If someone wanted to get a bit more
of details compared to nominal, it would be in the ordinal level.
There is probably a bit of a difference when instead of using nominal level and going to
ordinal level. When using ordinal level, it is the level of measurements that mostly ranked along
