Which pairing of data type and example is correct?

Which pairing of data type and example is correct?

• A. Ordinal: Temperature in Celsius
• B. Nominal: Gender
• C. Interval: Pain scale 0–10
• D. Ratio: Weight in kilograms

Answer: (B)

Understanding data types helps you know what comparisons and operations are meaningful. Nominal data categorize values into names or groups without any inherent order. Gender fits this nicely: you can categorize someone as male, female, or other, but there isn’t a logical ranking among those categories. Temperature in Celsius is interval data: you can compare values and meaningful differences exist (0 does not mean “no temperature”), but there isn’t a true zero that allows meaningful ratios. Pain on a 0–10 scale is typically treated as ordinal data: you can say more or less pain, but the intervals between points aren’t guaranteed to be equal, so arithmetic like averaging isn’t straightforward. Weight in kilograms is ratio data: there is a true zero (no weight) and both differences and ratios are meaningful. So the pairing with nominal data and gender is the correct match.

Understanding data types helps you know what comparisons and operations are meaningful. Nominal data categorize values into names or groups without any inherent order. Gender fits this nicely: you can categorize someone as male, female, or other, but there isn’t a logical ranking among those categories.

Temperature in Celsius is interval data: you can compare values and meaningful differences exist (0 does not mean “no temperature”), but there isn’t a true zero that allows meaningful ratios.

Pain on a 0–10 scale is typically treated as ordinal data: you can say more or less pain, but the intervals between points aren’t guaranteed to be equal, so arithmetic like averaging isn’t straightforward.

Weight in kilograms is ratio data: there is a true zero (no weight) and both differences and ratios are meaningful.

So the pairing with nominal data and gender is the correct match.