Scales of measurement

A measurement is simply a numerical assignment to something, usually a non-numerical element. Measurements convey certain information about the relationship between the element and other elements. Measurement involves a theoretical domain, an area of substantive concern represented as an empirical relational system, and a domain represented by a particular selected nu-merical relational system. There is a mapping function that carries us from the empirical system into the numerical system. The numerical system is manipulated and the results of the manipulation are studied to help the manager better understand the empirical system.

In reality, measurement is problematic: the manager can never know the true value of the element being measured. The numbers provide information on a certain scale and they represent measurements of some unobservable variable of interest. Some measurements are richer than others; i.e., some measurements provide more information than other measurements. The information content of a number is dependent on the scale of measurement used. This scale determines the types of statistical analyses that can be properly employed in studying the numbers. Until one has determined the ...