What kind of variable is "salary"?

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Alpha6

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My tutor said it is a ratio variable because the scale starts at 0, however I argued that it is interval because salaries do not start at 0, the intervals are in the thousands, but I don't know. Can anyone provide clarification please?
 
Alpha6 said:
My tutor said it is a ratio variable because the scale starts at 0, however I argued that it is interval because salaries do not start at 0, the intervals are in the thousands, but I don't know. Can anyone provide clarification please?
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The definition of a "ratio variable" says only that 0 has to be meaningful, not that it has to be an actual data value. Specifically, 0 has to mean "nothing". When this is true, doubling the variable corresponds to something real being doubled. (That's the reason for the name "ratio": the ratio of two measurements is meaningful.)

If you got a salary of 0, you would know what it meant, right? It would mean you got nothing, which is exactly what 0 ought to mean! That's what it means to be a ratio variable. (No, you wouldn't like it, and it would mean you didn't really have a job at all, but that's not the issue.) And if you earned 100,000 and I earned 200,000, it would make sense to say that I made twice as much (and perhaps was valued twice as much) as you.

I imagine if you look at examples you were given of ratio variables, you would find that the same is true of most of them. Height and weight are ratio variables, and no one has a height or weight of 0.
 
Dr.Peterson said:
The definition of a "ratio variable" says only that 0 has to be meaningful, not that it has to be an actual data value. Specifically, 0 has to mean "nothing". When this is true, doubling the variable corresponds to something real being doubled. (That's the reason for the name "ratio": the ratio of two measurements is meaningful.)

If you got a salary of 0, you would know what it meant, right? It would mean you got nothing, which is exactly what 0 ought to mean! That's what it means to be a ratio variable. (No, you wouldn't like it, and it would mean you didn't really have a job at all, but that's not the issue.) And if you earned 100,000 and I earned 200,000, it would make sense to say that I made twice as much (and perhaps was valued twice as much) as you.

I imagine if you look at examples you were given of ratio variables, you would find that the same is true of most of them. Height and weight are ratio variables, and no one has a height or weight of 0.
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Haha, funny explanation and this really made sense. Thank you!
 
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