Question

slate is a daily magazine on the web. its business activities can be described by a number of variables. what is the level of measurement for each of the following variables?
a. the number of hits on their website on saturday between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.
b. the departments, such as food and drink, politics, foreign policy, sports, etc
c. the number of weekly hits on the usaa insurance advertisement
d. the number of years each employee has been employed with slate

Explanation:

a. This variable is a countable numerical value with a true zero (0 hits means no activity) and allows meaningful arithmetic operations, so it is ratio level.
b. This variable groups data into distinct, non-ranked categories with no inherent order, so it is nominal level.
c. This is a countable numerical value with a true zero (0 hits means no interactions) and supports arithmetic, so it is ratio level.
d. This is a numerical value with a true zero (0 years means no employment) and allows meaningful comparisons/arithmetic, so it is ratio level.

Answer:

a. Ratio level of measurement
b. Nominal level of measurement
c. Ratio level of measurement
d. Ratio level of measurement