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What is a variable?
Author(s) -
Beyea Suzanne C.,
Nicoll Leslie H.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
aorn journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1878-0369
pISSN - 0001-2092
DOI - 10.1016/s0001-2092(06)62696-3
Subject(s) - perioperative nursing , perioperative , citation , medicine , library science , psychology , surgery , computer science
numbers have properties • Identity – each number has particular meaning, and the categories are discrete. • Magnitude (order) – there is an inherent order from large to small • Interval – the difference between 7 and 8 is the same increment as between 194 and 195 • A true zero – There is a true (real) absence of the property. Not all numbers are equal!! • Stevens (1946) classified variables into four levels. • These are referred to as level of measurement, or levels of data. • Nominal • Ordinal • Interval • Ratio Nominal variables • The least like “real” numbers. • The only property they have is identity or name (nominal=name). • Numbers if used are simply codes for the real names of the properties.