Measurement Strategies

Running Head : LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT

Levels of Measurement : Applied to Nursing Practice (Name (Course (University (Date

Levels of Measurement : Applied to Nursing Practice

Variables and different characteristics can be categorized into a hierarchy of four levels or scales of measurement : nominal , ordinal interval and ratio . Measurement provides a level of certainty to group a property that had been recognized (Babbie , 2010 . In order to provide an accurate description of the data , levels of measurement are utilized Each is defined to differentiate one from the other

Nominal scale of measurement is a

categorical variable that does not require values to be in order but can be divided into classes that can be named (Fawcett , 2007 . The numbers are categorized just to attribute the values uniquely and to reflect the group where a certain variable belongs . An application to clinical practice includes color and type of secretions (sanguineous , serosanguineous , purulent , types of sutures used in surgical operations (chromic , silk , cotton , polyglycolic measurement of quality of pain (throbbing , stabbing , burning , dull ) and classification of infectious agents (bacteria , virus , fungi , parasite

Ordinal level of measurement classifies variables into a sequential manner (Fawcett , 2007 . The attributes here are arranged in a systematic order to show the relationship among the numbered items However , the differences among the variables on the scale cannot be defined as equal and the same . Ordinal scale usually uses Likert Scale to represent each attributes . Examples of application to clinical practice are measurement of level of pain intensity (1 for minimal to...