What Level of Measurement is GPA? (Answered 2024)
Most of the students are not aware of the fact that there are different levels of measurement in which you can measure different items. When you calculate the GPA, it also has a level of measurement. There are students who do not have much interest in knowing about it. However, as a student, you must know what level of measurement is GPA. Thus here we will help you to find out what level of measurement is GPA and also will discuss other levels of measurement.
Quick Takeaways
1. Nominal level
- The level to use for measuring the GPA is the interval level of measurement.
- Following are the other levels of measurements that are commonly used-
2. Ordinal level
3. Ratio Level
However, you must read till the end so that you get a better understanding of what level of measurement is GPA.
What level of measurement is GPA?
When we get the grade of GPA it is based on the academic performance. As there is an ordering in the GPA and also does not have a real or non-arbitrary zero, it is considered an interval level. An interesting fact here to remember is that whenever we calculate the grades in any type of exam it will come under interval level. To understand it more clearly you must no different levels of measurement. Therefore further we have discussed different types of levels of measurement.
What are the different levels of measurement?
Following are the four main levels of measurement-
1. Nominal level
The simplest level of measurement is the nominal level. In this type of measurement, you can only name or label the different things. Even if you are using the numbers, they are just names. You can’t do anything with data at the nominal level and can only count the number of times something happens. There is no meaningful order implied when there is a nominal level of measurement. Some of the examples that have the nominal level of measurement are the color of your eyes and hair.
2. Ordinal level
It is the type of measurement in which you can order the items or anything according to yourself. However, at the ordinal level, you cannot measure the distance or the intervals between the two ranks. If we consider the letter grading system, it will come under the ordinal level. Another example of ordinal level can be the measurement of the taste of the fruits. Further, when you are taking a competitive exam, there are levels in which you pass them. You will only be notified about which level you have passed so far.
3. Interval level
Interval level is the type of measurement in which you can get the order of the things but are unable to measure the distance of the scale. When there is a quantitative measurement then the level of measurement is only the interval level. Further, one thing that you must remember is that there is no real zero considered in this type of measurement. Suppose you have scored a 4.0 GPA and the other person has scored a 2.0 GPA, then you will not say that your GPA is twice as good as the other’s. Another common example of this type of measurement is temperature.
4. Ratio Level
It is one of the most sophisticated levels and also has an inherent order. It is a level of measurement which is similar to the interval level. In this level of measure, the only difference is it has a meaningful zero. The meaningful zero helps you to calculate the numerical relations between the values of fractions, proportions, etc. It will also help you to calculate percentages if you want to.
The common examples in which the level of measurement is the ratio level are height, income, distance completed, etc. Suppose there is a student have 40 kg weight and on the other hand there is another student who has 80 kg weight. In such a scenario we can say that the weight of the other person is twice as much as of the first person.
Why is the level of measurement important?
Levels of measurement are important just because they help to understand the extent of the statistics. It not only helps in statistics or marketing analytics, but it also helps in calculating the final GPA. Suppose you are dividing all classifying your data on the ordinal level, then you will be able to understand which is the better item when compared with each other. If you do not want to have a qualitative comparison and only want to have a quantitative comparison, then you can go for interval and ratio levels of measurement.
Further, if you are looking for something that is stagnant, then you can always have a nominal level of measurement. The level of measurement is important because you. Also if there is no level of measurement, then you will not be able to understand how to analyze the data.
Why GPA can not be any other level of measurement?
As we have discussed above the interval level of measurement does not include a real zero. Now if you have scored GPA of 3.8 and the other person has scored 1.9 GPA, you can not say that your GPA is twice as good as the other person’s GPA. Thus it will not be a part of the ratio level of measurement. Now if we talk about the other levels of measurement, then the nominal and the ordinal levels of measurement help to measure the qualitative measure.
However, if your college or the institution calculates the grades on the basis of letter grades, then it will be a part of the ordinal level of measurement. It is because you will not be able to calculate the exact difference between the grades.
Conclusion
As a student, you must know what level of measurement is GPA. Generally, there are four different types of levels of measurement – Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio level of measurement. Nominal and ordinal level of measurement helps to measure the qualitative data. Further, when you are calculating the quantitative data, you will need to have interval and ratio levels of measurement. If, we talk about GPA, the level of measurement is the interval level. It is because there is no real zero while calculating it.
