Sociology 2206A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 5-6: Theoretical Definition, Operational Definition, Observational Error
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Variable: a property of an object composed of attributes. Exhaustive: a property of a variable ensuring that all objects can be classified. Attribute: a characteristic or quality of some object. Mutually exclusive: a property of a variable ensuring that every object can be classified into only one attribute. Levels of measurement (1) nominal measures: a variable whose attributes have only the characteristics of being jointly exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Ses high, medium, low. (3) interval measures: a level of measurement describing a variable whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes, ex. Celsius temperature scale distance between 17-18 = same as 39- 40 (4) ratio measures: a level of measurement describing a variable whose attributes have all the qualities of nominal, ordinal and interval measures, and in addition are based on a true zero point, ex. age.