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190 MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES: OPERATIONAL DEFINITION AND SCALES

categories), to the interval scale (where we tap the magnitude of the differences),
to the ratio scale (which allows us to measure the proportion of the differences).
You must have surmised by now that some variables, such as gender, can be
measured only on the nominal scale, while others, such as temperature, can be
measured on a nominal scale (high/low), or ordinal scale (hot-medium-low), or
the interval scale through the thermometer. Whenever it is possible to use a more
powerful scale than a less or one, it is wise to do so.

Now respond to Exercise 8.7.

Now that we have looked at the four types of scales, let us see, through the fol-
lowing examples, when and how they would be used.

Example 8.7 USE OF THE NOMINAL SCALE
Nominal scale is always used for obtaining personal data such as gender or
department in which one works, where grouping of individuals or objects is use-
ful, as shown below.

1. Your gender 2. Your department
___ Male ___ Production
___ Female ___ Sales
___ Accounting
___ Finance
___ Personnel
___ R & D
___ Other (specify)

Example 8.8 USE OF THE ORDINAL SCALE
Ordinal scale is used to rank the preferences or usage of various brands of a
product by individuals and to rank order individuals, objects, or events, as per
the examples below.

1. Rank the following personal computers with respect to their usage in your office,
assigning the number 1 to the most used system, 2 to the next most used, and
so on. If a particular system is not used at all in your office, put a 0 next to it.
___ Apple ___ Hewlett-Packard
___ Compaq ___ IBM
___ Comp USA ___ Packard Bell
___ Dell Computer ___ Sony
___ Gateway ___ Toshiba
___ Other (Specify)