ABSTRACT
One way to classify variables is to determine whether they are continuous or discrete. For instance, grade point average is continuous—the information is captured on a continuum from low to high. The categories of gender are female and male. There is no rational basis for saying that one category is higher or lower than the other; thus, the variable does not lend itself to being expressed on a continuum from low to high. Another way to classify variables is in terms of their level of measurement. The levels are: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. At the interval and ratio levels, information is captured on a continuum with equal spacing between the categories on a continuum. The level at which a variable is measured has important implications for how the results of measurement are analyzed statistically and how the findings are interpreted.
