Ordinal Level of Measurement: In ordinal level of measurement, the order of variables is critical. This scale has no numerical value, for example – gender, ethnicity, race etc. These variables have minimum two divisions such as Male/Female, Yes/No. In terms of statistics, nominal scale is the easiest to understand and implement. These variables are descriptive in nature. Numbers associated with the names are mere tags with no mathematical aspect linked to them. These variables have no order or hierarchy associated with them. Nominal Level of Measurement: In nominal level of measurement, variables are differentiated by their namings. But, in the ordinal scale, it is not mandatory for the difference between 4 (satisfactory) and 2 (unsatisfactory) to be the same as the difference between 5 (extremely satisfactory) and 3 (neutral), as the number is not assigned for quantitative measurement but is purely for tagging purposes.Įvery statistician should evaluate this difference precisely as the other two variable scales, i.e., Interval and Ratio are articulately calculated. Before we go ahead with the discussion about Nominal vs Ordinal scales, here is a brief description of Nominal and Ordinal levels of measurement.Here, the data collected will be on an ordinal scale as there is a rank associated with each of the answer options, i.e.1 indicates extremely unsatisfactory, 2 is unsatisfactory, 3 is neutral, 4 is satisfactory and 5 indicates extremely satisfactory.For example, after a customer shops from a retail outlet, he/she is asked to fill out a kiosk survey: “On a scale of 1-5, how was your shopping experience?” – in comparison to one another and “rank” each parameter (variable). Ordinal Scale, on the other hand, involves arranging information in a specific order, i.e. are considered to be data for a nominal scale. For example, a person’s gender, ethnicity, hair color etc.

These categories have corresponding numbers allotted for analysis of collected data. Nominal Scale is derived from the Latin word “nomalis” which denotes “related to names”, is usually used to indicate categories. The difference between Nominal and Ordinal scale has a great impact on market research analysis methods due to the details and information each of them has to offer. Both these measurement scales have their significance in surveys/questionnaires, polls, and their subsequent statistical analysis.

Nominal Scale and Ordinal Scale are two of the four variable measurement scales.

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