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Ratio Scales

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Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

Synonyms

Ratio measurement; Ratio variables

Definition

Ratio scales are measurement scales that consist of equidistant units and have a nonarbitrary zero point, signifying the absence of a measured characteristic (Field 2009; Michell 1999; Stevens 1946).

Description

Ratio scales are one of the four levels of measurement which describe the relationship between what is being measured and the values assigned to what is being measured. They represent the highest level of measurement within Stevens’ (1946) theory of scale types. They are rare in the social sciences but common in the physical sciences and engineering. Examples of ratio scales are age, income, length, time, and mass. Within quality of life research, ratio scales usually represent independent (e.g., age, income, time spent engaging in physical activity) rather than dependent variables (SF-36 Health Survey).

Ratio scales allow four basic empirical operations including classification (e.g., determination of equality), rank...

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References

  • Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS (3rd ed.). London: SAGE.

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  • Michell, J. (1999). Measurement in psychology: A critical history of a methodological concept. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Stevens, S. S. (1946). On the theory of scales of measurement. Science, 103, 677–680.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Human Performance, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Ester Cerin

Authors
  1. Ester Cerin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ester Cerin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Roma, Italy

    Filomena Maggino

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Mara Tognetti

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Cerin, E. (2023). Ratio Scales. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17299-1_2421

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