Question

Choose any interval-ratio variable of your choice from SPSS.

Be sure to verify with a frequency distribution or figure that the variable is in fact interval-ratio. Run the appropriate measures of central tendency and dispersion for this variable and in a few sentences discuss what all of these measures tell us about the variable.

Answer 1

Ratio Variables

Ratio variables have a fixed unit of measurement
and zero really means “nothing.”An example is weight in kilos. A kilo is a fixed unit of measurement because it always represents the exact same weight. Also, zero kilos corresponds to “nothing” with regard to weight. As a consequence,multiplication is meaningful for ratio variables.In fact, we don't need more than a kitchen scale to prove that 2 times 1 kilo really is the same amount of weight as 1 time 2 kilos.

Number of employees as ratio as well as ordinal variable

Some text books mention an “absolute zero point”. We rather avoid this phrasing because ratio variables may hold negative values; the balance of my bank account may be negative but is has a fixed unit of measurement -Euros in my case- and zero means “nothing”.