Welcome to our 2nd threaded discussion! All right, this week we\'ll discuss the

Question

Welcome to our 2nd threaded discussion! All right, this week we'll discuss the notion of measurement. Long story short, measurement is the process by which we assign values to units of analysis to measure the quantity of an attribute. I know, I know, that is a bit of a nerdy definition, so let me break it down. In any research project, we have some sort of "unit of analysis" that is being studied - it might be individuals, organizations, or some other thing, or even one thing measured over time (for time series data). For example, suppose we are studying student performance. Suppose our dependent variable is a student’s GPA. Suppose our independent variables are 1) Hours studied per week, 2) Hours worked per week, 3) Intelligence, 4) Hours spent socializing per week, 5) Major, 6) Family obligations, 7) School, etc. (by etc., I mean to include any other independent variable that we believe affects student performance). Now that we have our dependent variable and now that we have our main independent variables that we believe affect our dependent variable (or outcome variable), we must perform measurements. In other words, for each of the variables listed above, we need real data... So, let's start our threaded discussion this week as follows: Considering the example above, what are "candidates" for measurements? In other words, how would you recommend measuring the dependent variable? How about all the independent variables? [Minimum 300 to 400 words required]

Explanation / Answer

independent variables namely Hours studied per week, Hours worked per week, and Hours spent socializing per week are measured on ratio scale of measurement. it is a type of quantitative data. this variable doesnt have a true zero poitnt. additionallt, these variables have equal differences between scale values and also have equal quantitative meaning. hence they measured on ratio scale of measurement.

variables namely major, family obilgations, and school are all type of categorial variables, that is they are quantitative variables. variables which have categories are measured on nominal scale of measurement. major can be statistics, physics, chemistry etc. family can be nuclear, joint, middle class etc. school can be high school, junior school, college etc.

dependent varible Students GPA and independent variable namely intelligence are meausred on ordinal scale of measurement. when variables can be ranked in order of importance they are called ordinary variabels.

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