Question

the following appear on a physicians intake form. identify the level of measurement of the data. (a) change in health (scale of - 5 to 5) (b) marital status (c) year of birth (d) weight (a) what is the level of measurement for \change in health (scale of - 5 to 5)\? nominal ratio ordinal interval (b) what is the level of measurement for \marital status\? interval nominal ordinal ratio

Explanation:

(a) The change in health on a scale of - 5 to 5 has an order (e.g., -5 is worse than -4), so it is ordinal.
(b) Marital status (e.g., single, married, divorced) is a categorical variable without any order, so it is nominal.
(c) Year of birth is an interval variable as differences between years are meaningful, but there is no true zero (the year 0 is arbitrary in the context of birth years).
(d) Weight has a true zero (0 weight means absence of weight) and ratios are meaningful (e.g., a 10 - kg object is twice as heavy as a 5 - kg object), so it is ratio.

Answer:

(a) Ordinal
(b) Nominal
(c) Interval
(d) Ratio