Tips for Distinguishing Nominal and Ordinal Scale Data

Suparji Suparji (Center for Excellence in Science and Technology-Community Empowerment, Poltekkes Kemenkes Surabaya)
Heru Santoso Wahito Nugroho (Center for Excellence in Science and Technology-Community Empowerment, Poltekkes Kemenkes Surabaya)
Wiwin Martiningsih (Department of Nursing, Poltekkes Kemenkes Malang)

Aloha International Journal of Multidisciplinary Advancement (AIJMU)
Vol 1, No 6 (2019): JUNE

In community empowerment research, categorical variables both in the form of nominal and ordinal scales are often involved. The purpose of these tips is to provide information on how to distinguish nominal and ordinal variables, so that data interpretation errors do not occur. In principle, to distinguish nominal and ordinal variables, the first step is to ensure that there is a dichotomy which means variables at nominal scale; if there are more than two categories, a second step is taken, namely to ensure that there are differences in degree between categories which means the variables are ordinal scale. Keywords: categorical variable, nominal scale; ordinal scale; distinguishing