ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Levels of measurement

Levels of measurement refer to the way we can measure and categorize different types of data. There are four main levels of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.

Nominal level of measurement is like giving names to things, like naming colors in a crayon box. We can name different categories, but we can't rank them. For example, we can name the colors in a box of crayons, but we can't say that red is greater than blue.

Ordinal level of measurement is when we can rank things in a specific order, like the order of finishers in a race. We can tell that the person who finished first is higher than the person who finished second, but we can't say how much higher they are.

Interval level of measurement is when we have a scale that we can measure things on, like temperature. We can tell that 50 degrees Fahrenheit is higher than 40 degrees, and we can say that the difference between 50 and 40 degrees is 10 degrees. But, we can't say that 50 degrees is twice as hot as 25 degrees.

Ratio level of measurement is similar to interval, but with the addition of a true zero point. This means that we have a point where we can start counting from zero, like measuring someone's height. We can say that someone who is 6 feet tall is twice as tall as someone who is 3 feet tall.

In summary, levels of measurement help us understand how we measure and categorize data in different fields like science, math, and statistics. Nominal is like giving names, ordinal is like ranking, interval is like measuring on a scale, and ratio is like measuring from a true zero point.