What level of measurement is strongest and allows for meaningful ratios to be calculated?

The ratio scale is the strongest level of measurement because it possesses all the properties of the other measurement scales—nominal, ordinal, and interval—while allowing for the computation of meaningful ratios. This scale has a true zero point, which indicates the absence of the quantity being measured. For example, in the case of height, a measurement of zero means the complete absence of height. As a result, you can make statements such as "A person who is 180 cm tall is twice as tall as a person who is 90 cm tall," which is not possible with the other scales.

In contrast, the nominal scale categorizes data without a specific order and lacks numerical meaning, making ratio calculations impossible. The ordinal scale ranks data in a specific order but does not provide information about the magnitude of the differences between ranks. The interval scale allows for meaningful differences between values but lacks a true zero point, meaning that ratios cannot be calculated. Hence, it is the ratio scale that provides the most robust and informative level of measurement, enabling meaningful mathematical operations and comparisons.