Characteristics of nominal scale
What Is The Nominal Scale And What Are The Characteristics Of This Scale And How Are They Used In Research?
A nominal scale is one that allows the researcher to assign subjects to certain categories or groups. For example with respect to the variable of gender, respondents can be grouped into two categories male and female. These two groups can be assigned code numbers 1 and 2. These numbers serve as simple and convenient category labels with no intrinsic value, other than to assign respondents to one of two non-overlapping or mutually exclusive categories.
Note that the categories are also collectively exhaustive. In other words there is no third category into which respondents would normally fall. Thus nominal scales categorize individuals or objects into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive groups. The information that can be generated from nominal scaling is to calculate the percentage of makes and females in our samples of respondents.
For example if we had interviewed 200 people and assigned code number 1 to all male respondents and number 2 to all female respondents then computer analysis of the data at the end of survey may show that 98 of the respondents are men and 102 are women. This frequency of distribution tells us that 49 percent of the survey's such scaling tell us nothing more about the two groups. Thus the nominal scale gives some basic, categorical gross information.
Note that the categories are also collectively exhaustive. In other words there is no third category into which respondents would normally fall. Thus nominal scales categorize individuals or objects into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive groups. The information that can be generated from nominal scaling is to calculate the percentage of makes and females in our samples of respondents.
For example if we had interviewed 200 people and assigned code number 1 to all male respondents and number 2 to all female respondents then computer analysis of the data at the end of survey may show that 98 of the respondents are men and 102 are women. This frequency of distribution tells us that 49 percent of the survey's such scaling tell us nothing more about the two groups. Thus the nominal scale gives some basic, categorical gross information.
What are the characteristics of scale and how are they used in research
