Question

Depression can be measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, which adds up scores from 21 items that are scored on a 4-point continuum (0=least, 3=most) to provide a total value ranging from 0 to 63. What level of measurement is this?

	a.	Nominal
	b.	Ordinal
	c.	Interval
	d.	Ratio
	e.	None of the above

Answer 1

Interval

In interval level of measurement, distances between intervals of the scale are numerically equal. Interval scales are assumed to be a continuum of values. They are almost exclusively manmade scales, measures, inventories, and so forth. The nominal level of measurement is the lowest of the four measurement levels or categories. It is used when data can be organized into categories of a defined property but the categories cannot be ordered. It merely names. Data that can be measured at the ordinal level can be assigned to categories of an attribute that can be ranked. Ratio level of measurement is the highest form of measure and meets all the rules of the lower forms of measures. It uses the real number scale, on which zero means none of the variable being measured.