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| Characteristics that may differ from one member of a population to the next. |
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| The values of these variables for individual members of the population. |
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| May assume any imaginable value within a certain range. Measurements of length, mass, time, temperature, concentration, and so on are examples. |
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| Variables in which one would never expect to obtain a measurement that is not a whole number. |
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| Variables that cannot be measured on a scale in which the intervals or units have a consistent relationship to each other, but they can be ranked with respect to their relative magnitude. An example is dominance hierarchy. (greater than, equal to, less than) |
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| Variables that can neither be expressed quantitatively nor ranked with respect to relative magnitude. Examples are; male and female, alive or dead, red or white. |
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| The result of preforming some mathematical operation on an original variable or of having a measuring devise perform such an operation. An example is measuring pH, when the actual variable being measured is hydrogen, but pH is what is being compared. |
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| Computed from two continuous measurements. Examples are ratios, percentages, and rates (velocity). |
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| Variables whose variation we suspect depends on some other variable (predictor variable). In testing medicine on blood pressure, the resulting blood pressure is this while the dosage is the predictor variable. |
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| Individual measurements or observations of a variable made on individual units of the population under study. |
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| The total number of observations of variable in any given sample. |
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| Also called the "classificatory scale" uses numbers or other symbols to classify objects or events into one of two or more mutually exclusive categories. (male or female, equal or not equal) Attributes are measured on this scale. |
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When it is possible to determine that an object from group A is in some respect greater than or less than some object from group B, but it is not possible to determine how much the two objects differ.
Example: Male lions can be placed in a hierarchy but no one is able to say how dominant one is over another. |
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| Has a constant and defined unit of measurement, assigns a real number to all measurements made, this scale uses an arbitrary zero point. (Temperature, weight) |
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| Has a constant and defined unit of measurement, assigns a real number to all measurements made, has a true zero point. (number of antler points, number of fleas) |
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