Measurement is the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event, which can be compared with other objects or events. The scope and application of a measurement is dependent on the context and discipline. In the
natural sciences and
engineering, measurements do not apply to nominal properties of objects or events, which is consistent with the guidelines of the
International vocabulary of metrology published by the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures. However, in other fields such as
statistics as well as the
social and
behavioral sciences, measurements can have
multiple levels, which would include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales.
