The name 'Nominal' comes from the Latin nomen, meaning 'name' and nominal data are items
which are differentiated by a simple naming system.
The only thing a nominal scale does is to say that items being measured have something in
common, although this may not be described.
Nominal items may have numbers assigned to them. This may appear ordinal but is not -these are used to simplify capture and referencing.
Nominal items are usually categorical, in that they belong to a definable category, such as
'employees'.
Example
The number pinned on a sports person.
A set of countries.
Ordinal
Items on an ordinal scale are set into some kind of order by their position on the scale. This
may indicate such as temporal position, superiority, etc.
The order of items is often defined by assigning numbers to them to show their relative
position. Letters or other sequential symbols may also be used as appropriate.
Ordinal items are usually categorical, in that they belong to a definable category, such as '1956
marathon runners'.
You cannot do arithmetic with ordinal numbers -- they show sequence only.
Example
The first, third and fifth person in a race.
Pay bands in an organization, as denoted by A, B, C and D.
Interval
Interval data (also sometimes called integer) is measured along a scale in which each position
is equidistant from one another. This allows for the distance between two pairs to be equivalent
in some way.
This is often used in psychological experiments that measure attributes along an arbitrary scale
between two extremes.
Interval data cannot be multiplied or divided.
Example
My level of happiness, rated from 1 to 10.
Temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit.
Ratio
In a ratio scale, numbers can be compared as multiples of one another. Thus one person can be
twice as tall as another person. Important also, the number zero has meaning.
Thus the difference between a person of 35 and a person 38 is the same as the difference
between people who are 12 and 15. A person can also have an age of zero.
Ratio data can be multiplied and divided because not only is the difference between 1 and 2
the same as between 3 and 4, but also that 4 is twice as much as 2.
Interval and ratio data measure quantities and hence are quantitative. Because they can be
measured on a scale, they are also called scale data.
Example
A person's weight
The number of pizzas I can eat before fainting
http://changingminds.org/explanations/research/measurement/types_data.htm
Normal Distribution is a statistical term frequently used in psychology and other social sciences
to describe how traits are distributed through a population. Often referred to as bell curves
(because the shape looks like a bell) it tracks rare occurrences of a trait on both the high and
low ends of the curve with the majority of occurrences appearing in the middle section of the
curve. The most commonly known example comes from IQ tests with the majority of the
population scoring within the normal or middle-range of intelligence.
Read more: http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Normal
%20Distribution#ixzz3xdt6htTg
Positively Skewed
When a distribution includes extreme scores that are very high. Contain more
low scores than high scores; the skew is produced by the unusually high score.
Curve at left, tail on right.
Negatively Skewed
When a distribution includes extreme scores that are unusually low and the
low scores skew the distribution. Contain a higher number of high scores than
low scores. Curve at right, tail on left.
https://quizlet.com/7498000/ap-psychology-chapter-2-part-2-flash-cards/
