Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter defines the scale of a quantity as the resolution within the range of measurement. The ratio of the range to the resolution is the scope, a number with no units and hence no dimensions. Scope can be thought of as the number of steps, given the step size. It applies to measurement instruments, the quantities measured in research programs, the research programs themselves, and the equations describing ecological patterns and processes. A single measurement has a scope, which is the ratio of its magnitude to its precision. When applied to ratio, interval, ordinal, and nominal scale measurements, the concept of scope brings out how these four types of scale differ. These differences are readily displayed as a scope diagram.
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