In: Statistics and Probability
Consider what you have learned from the unit's studies. What statistics do you use in the real world? What scales of measurement are you using (for example, nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio)? Please identify at least two instances of using statistics in the real world and explain the scale of measurement for each variable. Be sure to reference the text and articles.
Statistics and Statistical techniques are used widely in many areas nowadays. For example statistics is used by government organisations and managements of business to planning for efficient working and for formulating policy decisions.It is useful in solving variety of economic problems such as wages,prices distribution of income and wealth etc. It is also used in various fields of Biology, Astronomy,Medical Science etc.
Nominal scale is used for just naming a variable. Those variables are also known as categorical variable. Nominal variable have two or more categories without having any kind of natural order.
for eg; Surveying people to find out if men or women have higher self- esteem
Ordinal Scale orders the values but the difference between each one is not really known.
For eg; Ordering the level of satisfaction the people had on the services rendered by police( very satisfied,satisfied, neutral,not satisfied,extremely unsatisfied)
Interval Scale not only orders but also the exact differences between the values is also known.But they don't have a "true zero"
For eg; Measuring the temperature in a Celsius scale.The difference between each value is same but there is no such thing as no temperature.
Ratio Scale has all characteristics of an interval scale along with an absolute zero.This variables can bemeaningfullynadded ,subtracted,divided or multiplied.
For eg; Measuring height or weight of students of a particular age.