Question

Types of Data: Classify the level of measurement for the described data as nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio.

(a) the gas mileage from 30 different types of cars

nominalordinal    intervalratio

(b) the colors of all models of a certain type of car

nominalordinal    intervalratio

(c) the years of major tsunami events

nominalordinal    intervalratio

Answer 1

a) Note that gas mileage is a continuous numerical variable and also the difference between 2 mileage has some meaning. Also 0 has a definitive meaning here. Therefore this is a ratio variable here.

b) The colour is not a numerical variable but a categorical variable. Also some colour X is not more or less than another colour Y. This means that there is not an ordinal behaviour in the variable. Therefore the colours of all models of certain type of car here is a nominal variable.

c) The years is a numerical variable with distinct values but there is no numerical meaning to this variable. Note that the year has an ordinal behaviour as 2010 > 2000 and so on. Therefore this is a ordinal variable here.