Which statement best distinguishes nominal data from ordinal data?

Which statement best distinguishes nominal data from ordinal data?

• A. Ordinal data have an inherent order.
• B. Nominal data are categories with no natural order.
• C. Nominal data can be ranked numerically.
• D. Ordinal data have no ranking at all.

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is how order matters between nominal and ordinal data. Nominal data are just categories with no natural order; the labels (like fruit types or city names) are arbitrary, so no category is considered higher or lower than another. In contrast, ordinal data have a meaningful order among the categories, so you can say one category comes before or after another, even if the exact difference between steps isn’t known. That distinction is what makes nominal data be categories with no natural order. The other statements mix up features: ordinal data do have an inherent order, nominal data aren’t ranked numerically, and ordinal data do have ranking.

The key idea here is how order matters between nominal and ordinal data. Nominal data are just categories with no natural order; the labels (like fruit types or city names) are arbitrary, so no category is considered higher or lower than another. In contrast, ordinal data have a meaningful order among the categories, so you can say one category comes before or after another, even if the exact difference between steps isn’t known. That distinction is what makes nominal data be categories with no natural order. The other statements mix up features: ordinal data do have an inherent order, nominal data aren’t ranked numerically, and ordinal data do have ranking.