Meaning & use
ordinal scale
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Meaning
nouncountablemathematics
A way of measuring data in which values can be put in a clear order, but the distances between them are not known or equal.
Grammar: Often with on: the answers were recorded on an ordinal scale.
Patterns
- measure something on an ordinal scale
- data on an ordinal scale
Race results are measured on an ordinal scale because first, second and third place say nothing about the time gaps.
A survey that asks people to rate their pain as mild, moderate or severe uses an ordinal scale.
Students were asked to rank the cafeteria meals, which produced data on an ordinal scale.
Word forms
| plural | ordinal scales |
|---|
Common combinations
- measured on an ordinal scale
- Satisfaction was measured on an ordinal scale from one to five.
- use an ordinal scale
- Researchers often use an ordinal scale for opinion questions.
- ordinal scale variable
- Education level is an ordinal scale variable.
- nominal and ordinal scales
- The course covers nominal and ordinal scales before moving on to interval data.
- rank on an ordinal scale
- Items were ranked on an ordinal scale by each judge.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ranking scale
- A ranking scale is a looser, everyday phrase that stresses the order of items, while ordinal scale is the formal statistics term.
- rank order
- Rank order describes the sequence itself, whereas ordinal scale names the measurement level that such a sequence belongs to.
Word family
Commonly confused: ordinal scale or interval scale? ordinal scale or ordinary?
ordinal scale vs interval scale
An interval scale has equal gaps between values, such as temperature in Celsius, while an ordinal scale only gives order.
ordinal scale vs ordinary
Ordinary means usual or plain and is unrelated to the statistical word ordinal.
Practice
Which data would normally be measured on an ordinal scale?
Choose one answer.
Finishing positions show order without equal gaps, which is what ordinal means. Eye color has no order, and height and age have equal gaps.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ordinal scale”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.