level of measurement

[Amjad]

Hi John, just to confirm if the following is the ratio measurement. I belive its ratio because the zero is the actual possibility, when there is no pain. could you please confirm. thanks.

VAS = Visual Analogue Pain Scale
0 – 100 mm visual analogue scale 0 = no pain; 100 = worst pain ever

A,

[JohnM]

This brings up an interesting instance....

Although 0 is an actual possibility and represents an "absence" of pain, is someone who reports a pain level of 50 actually experiencing exactly "twice as much pain" as someone who reports 25?

This scale may be ordinal if it doesn't pass the "interval" criteria of equal intervals across the entire scale.

Many pain experience scales are not linear....the decibel scale for hearing is another example....

[jerryb]

good point,

as i am in no pain personally right now, but i am usually a pain in the butt for john....

cheers
jerry

[JohnM]

Interesting side note - visual pain (increasingly bright lights) follows a more-or-less logarithmic curve - decreasing slope, but audio pain (increasingly loud noise) follows an more-or-less exponential curve - increasing slope.

But I believe the kind of pain Jerry refers to follows an exponential scale....:D

[Amjad]

Thanks john for your good explanation. well very intersting postings by jerry and john.
A,