Variables are measurement using an instrument, device, or computer. … There are four scales of measurement, nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. The least amount of information is contained in nominal scale data, while the most amount of information can be obtained from ratio scale data.

How are variables measured give examples?

Simply put, a measurement variable (sometimes called a numeric variable) expresses some type of measurement and has a number associated with it. For example: 12 cm, 5 feet, or 310 meters. The measured quantity doesn’t have to be something you’d crack out a ruler to find. It can be anything represented by a number.

How do you measure variables in a research study?

You can see that one way to look at variables is to divide them into four different categories ( nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio). These refer to the levels of measure associated with the variables. In everyday usage the convention is to then use the level of measure to refer to the kind of variable.