
70 Empirical Research in Software Engineering
heavier than B with weight 100pounds. Simple counts are represented by absolute scale.
The example of simple counts is number of faults, LOC, and number of methods. In abso-
lute type of scale, the descriptive statistics such as mean, median, and standard deviation
can be applied to summarize data.
Nonmetric type of data can be measured on nominal or ordinal scales. Nominal scale
divides metric into classes, categories, or levels without considering any order or rank
between these classes. For example, Change is either present or not present in a class.
Change
no change present
1, change present
=