Sociologie Românească (Romanian Sociology), Vol. XIV, no. 2-3/2016, pp. 73-78.

Un indicator informaţional pentru variabilele categoriale ale unei anchete. Notă de cercetare

An Informational Indicator for Categorical Variables of a Survey. Research Note 

Gabriel Sticlaru*

*Institutul de Cercetare a Calităţii Vieţii, Academia Română, București

Full text (PDF)

Citare (Citation): 

1. Gabriel Sticlaru. Un indicator informaţional pentru variabilele categoriale ale unei anchete. Notă de cercetare. Sociologie Românească XIV(2-3):73-78, 2016. BibTeX

   @article{,
   	author = "Sticlaru, Gabriel",
   	title = "Un indicator informaţional pentru variabilele categoriale ale unei anchete. Notă de cercetare",
   	journal = "Sociologie Românească",
   	volume = "XIV",
   	number = "2-3",
   	pages = "73-78",
   	abstract = "The statistical procedures used for data processing have to be considerate depending on measurement variables level: nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio type. Here are presented some examples for ordinal variables, where calculated mean is misleading and gives a wrong interpretation. For the categorical variables, we propose an indicator resulted from the informational entropy, as a measure of the responses distribution in a survey. Calculations are made for a Likert scale, survey data from 1991 to 2010. The indicator allows us to make a global characterization of the distributions, items ranking, dynamic comparisons and patterns identification.",
   	keywords = "Scales of measurement; Informational Entropy and Energy; Likert Scalea",
   	year = 2016
   }
   

Abstract: The statistical procedures used for data processing have to be considerate depending on measurement variables level: nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio type. Here are presented some examples for ordinal variables, where calculated mean is misleading and gives a wrong interpretation. For the categorical variables, we propose an indicator resulted from the informational entropy, as a measure of the responses distribution in a survey. Calculations are made for a Likert scale, survey data from 1991 to 2010. The indicator allows us to make a global characterization of the distributions, items ranking, dynamic comparisons and patterns identification.

Keywords: Scales of measurement; Informational Entropy and Energy; Likert Scalea.

Cuvinte-cheie: scale de măsurare; entropie şi energie informaţională; Scală Likert.