Which data scale is used to classify data into named categories without any inherent order?

• A. Interval
• B. Nominal
• C. Ordinal
• D. Ratio

Answer: (B)

Nominal data classify into named categories with no inherent order. The categories are simply labels, and there’s no ranking among them. You can tally frequencies and identify the most common category, but you can’t meaningfully speak of more or less or compute averages across categories. This contrasts with ordinal data, where there is a clear order (for example, stages like mild to severe) but the differences between steps aren’t necessarily equal. Interval data add equal spacing between values but have no true zero (like temperature in Celsius), and ratio data have both equal intervals and a true zero point (like height or weight).