Data Scale: Difference between revisions

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''discrete'' and ''continuous'', and ''categorical'' might be ''[[nominal]]'', ''[[ordinal]]'', or ''discrete'' data.  
''discrete'' and ''continuous'', and ''categorical'' might be ''[[nominal]]'', ''[[ordinal]]'', or ''discrete'' data.  


{|
|  rowspan="2" | ''Formal Properties''         ||  colspan="4" align="center" | ''Scale Types''
|-
|      ratio         ||  interval      || ordinal      || nominal
|-
| category  || yes ||  yes || yes || yes
|-
| magnitude || yes || yes || yes || no
|-
| equal internal || yes || yes || no || no
|-
| absolute zero || yes || no || no || no 
|-
|  
|-
| Example || ''file size''     || ''time''     || ''activity level''     || ''file name''
|}
''Source: [Zhang, 1996]''
== References ==
[Zhang, 1996] Zhang, J. 1996. A representational analysis of relational information displays. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 45, 1 (Jul. 1996), 59-74. DOI= http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ijhc.1996.0042


[[Category:Glossary]]
[[Category:Glossary]]

Revision as of 08:52, 26 August 2009

The data scale of a parameter is given by the statistic attributes of the values.

  • nominal: Unordered set (only = or != relations)
    Example: film titles.
  • ordinal: Ordered set (=, !=, <, and > relations)
    Example: film ratings.
  • discrete: Numeric range (Integer, arithmetic possible)
    Example:film year.
  • continuous: Numeric range (Real/float numbers, arithmetic possible)
    Example: film length.
  • binary: true or false (Boolean arithmetic)
    Example: film available.

Note: Other often used terms in relation to data types are qualitative, quantitative, and categorical. Whereas qualitative subsumes nominal and ordinal, quantitative subsumes discrete and continuous, and categorical might be nominal, ordinal, or discrete data.

Formal Properties      Scale Types
ratio      interval      ordinal      nominal
category yes yes yes yes
magnitude yes yes yes no
equal internal yes yes no no
absolute zero yes no no no
 
Example file size      time      activity level      file name


Source: [Zhang, 1996]


References

[Zhang, 1996] Zhang, J. 1996. A representational analysis of relational information displays. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 45, 1 (Jul. 1996), 59-74. DOI= http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ijhc.1996.0042