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University
of Washington
The
Information School
LIS
570 Research Methods for Library and Information Science
Understanding your
data
All
data are expressed as numbers (Values)
Values
designate different things:
Nominal
Variables (De Vaus)
Categorical (Bouma)
Sex
(1)
= Male ¬
Value Label
(2)
= Female ¬
Value Label
Sample
data: 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1
Designates
categories which are different
Values
(numbers) have no numerical meaning in relation to the concept (variable)
Females
have no more of the characteristic sex than males; Females don't have 2 units of
sex, males don't have 1 unit of sex
Ordinal
variables
Age
(number of years)
(1)
18-24
(2)
25-31
(3)
32-38
(4)
39-45
Sample
Data = 2 4 1 3 3 2 1
A
person with 2 has more age (number of years) than a person with 1
A
person with 2 does not have 2 years of age
Designates
order (More, less, greater than, greater less) but not quantity (how much)
Interval
variables
Number
of hours
Values
designate quantity; 2 more than 1 less than 3
Person
2 has more of the characteristic number of hours exercising
(5 hours) than person 1 (2 hours).
Difference between them is 3 hours
Standard
unit of measurement Interval
Variables
Other
examples
Ratio
= True zero
Height
and weight
Hint:
All
things being equal measure your concepts on the interval level. Second choice
ordinal