On the Theory of Scales of Measurement.¶
Stevens, S. S. (1946). On the Theory of Scales of Measurement. Science, 103(2684), 677-680.
Cited by¶
4 citations across 4 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Commensurability
- Commensurability concerns whether different types of value can be compared, an orthogonal axis that Stevens (1946) makes explicit in his typology of measurement scales (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio), where scale type and inter-scale comparability are independent properties.
This sourceCanonical typology of measurement scales (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio); supports the discreteness-vs-commensurability contrast by establishing that scale type is independent of whether two scales can be compared on a common metric.
- Commensurability concerns whether different types of value can be compared, an orthogonal axis that Stevens (1946) makes explicit in his typology of measurement scales (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio), where scale type and inter-scale comparability are independent properties.
- Continuum (measurement)
- Measurement
- A target attribute (the mapped property). A specific attribute of a target system — often implicit and contested — that the operation claims to capture; the value is a claim about this, not a bare number. A scale (the codomain). A numerical, categorical, or ordinal scale onto which the attribute is mapped; its type (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) fixes which downstream operations are meaning-preserving.
This sourceIntroduces the nominal/ordinal/interval/ratio classification fixing which operations are meaning-preserving for each scale type; the canonical source for scale-type-versus-admissible-operations and for reliability/validity as distinct properties.
- A target attribute (the mapped property). A specific attribute of a target system — often implicit and contested — that the operation claims to capture; the value is a claim about this, not a bare number. A scale (the codomain). A numerical, categorical, or ordinal scale onto which the attribute is mapped; its type (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) fixes which downstream operations are meaning-preserving.
Mechanisms¶
- Rank-Based Methods
- Where S. S. Stevens' scale of measurement types marks the line between ordinal and interval data, rank methods let an analysis live honestly at the ordinal level instead of borrowing interval precision the measurement never had.
This sourceDistinguishes ordinal rank information from interval-scale precision and cautions against statistics that assume more than rank order.
- Where S. S. Stevens' scale of measurement types marks the line between ordinal and interval data, rank methods let an analysis live honestly at the ordinal level instead of borrowing interval precision the measurement never had.
Verification¶
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