Overview (VARIABLE LEVEL command)

VARIABLE LEVEL specifies the level of measurement for variables.

Basic Specification

The basic specification is a variable name, followed by a measurement level enclosed in parentheses. The measurement level can be:

NOMINAL. A variable can be treated as nominal when its values represent categories with no intrinsic ranking; for example, the department of the company in which an employee works. Examples of nominal variables include region, zip code, or religious affiliation.

ORDINAL. A variable can be treated as ordinal when its values represent categories with some intrinsic ranking; for example, levels of service satisfaction from highly dissatisfied to highly satisfied. Examples of ordinal variables include attitude scores representing degree of satisfaction or confidence and preference rating scores.

SCALE. A variable can be treated as scale when its values represent ordered categories with a meaningful metric, so that distance comparisons between values are appropriate. Examples of scale variables include age in years and income in thousands of dollars.