Temporal measurements of the electron density, metastable-atom density, and reduced electric field demonstrate that four orders of magnitude variation in the dynamic range of the electron-atom collision-induced excitation rates takes place during the 2.0 kV height, 40 µs duration repeating pulse applied to a 100 Pa (1 Torr), argon positive column in a hollow-cathode discharge. Correlation between metastable-atom density and emission-line ratio is demonstrated to be sufficiently reliable to infer one quantity based on the measurement of the other quantity during the Initiation, Transient, and Post-Transient spectroscopic stages of the pulse. Observed emission-line ratio and the predicted emission-line ratio are in quantitative agreement with each other in the Transient and Post-Transient stages of the discharge and are in qualitative agreement with each other in the Initiation stage of the discharge. Reasonable assumptions regarding the interpretation of the electron energy probability function (EEPF), as it starts off being Druyvesteyn and becomes more Maxwellian later with the increasing electron density, is key to interpreting the correlation and explaining the temporal behavior of the emission-line ratio in all stages of the discharge.