ABSTRACT
To understand the use and meaning of statistics and statistical methods it is necessary to first understand the nature of measurements. Therefore, this chapter begins with a discussion of the four types of measurements. The chapter focuses on how to use statistical methods and interpret statistical information, rather than on the theoretical side of statistical analysis. The purpose of this chapter is to help researchers and those involved in approving, funding, monitoring or evaluating research in political science. The four types or levels of measurement in political science research are: 1) nominal, 2) ordinal, 3) interval and 4) ratio. The label scales is sometimes used to mean both the measurement tools used to collect data and the data itself. Statisticians have developed statistical tests to analyze data of each data or scale type.
