What Ordinal is
Ordinal data is a type of categorical data that is used to show the rank or order of items. It involves assigning a numerical value to each item and then arranging them in order based on the assigned values.
Steps for Ordinal data:
- Identify the variable of interest.
- Determine the categories of the variable of interest.
- Assign a numerical value to each category, generally starting at 0 and increasing by one for each category.
- Arrange the categories in order according to the numerical values assigned.
- Record the data in the ordinal format.
Examples
-
An ordinal scale is used to rank items in order of preference, such as survey responses on a scale from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.”
-
An ordinal scale is used to measure the severity of a patient’s symptoms on a scale from “Mild” to “Severe.”
-
An ordinal scale is used to measure a student’s academic performance on a scale from “A” to “F.”