Title :
On the definition and use of aggregate indices for nominal, ordinal, and other scales
Author_Institution :
Dipt. di Sci. Politiche, Universita degli Studi dell´´Insubria, Como, Italy
Abstract :
It is not uncommon in software engineering measurement to deal with attributes measured with nominal or ordinal scales. Also, it has long been debated whether it is possible to find ordinal scales for the structural complexity of software code. We address two problems: (1) the definition of concentration and dispersion indices for nominal scales; (2) the conditions under which the comparisons of arithmetic means or geometric means are meaningful for scales that are ordinal or not even ordinal.
Keywords :
information theory; software metrics; nominal scale; ordinal scale; software code; software engineering measurement; structural complexity; Aggregates; Application software; Arithmetic; Computer languages; Data mining; Software debugging; Software engineering; Software measurement; Software metrics; Sufficient conditions;
Conference_Titel :
Software Metrics, 2004. Proceedings. 10th International Symposium on
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-2129-0
DOI :
10.1109/METRIC.2004.1357890
