Question 119:

Asked on March 20, 2008

Tags: Bell Curve , ANOVA , Ordinal , Interval

1

Answer:

No answer provided yet.Yes, it is a common practice to convert the semantic labels into numeric equivalents. The data should be treated as ordinal unless you have tested the scale and established intervals (See Nunnally’s Psychometric Theory, 2nd Ed page 61 for an example). You can still run parametric tests, such as t-tests and ANOVA on the data, however, when you interpret the results don’t make statements like, group A was twice as satisfied as group B (that’s an interval statement). You can say that Group A is more satisfied (ordinal statement). Know that some in the field of psychometrics will even take exception with what I’ve recommended. In practice, it is usually fine: see Hyperstat for a discussion.