A post-order survey asks customers to rate satisfaction from 1 to 5. The level of measurement of that score is:

Answer

Ordinal — the scores are ordered, but the gaps between them are not known

Options - A. Ordinal — the scores are ordered, but the gaps between them are not known - B. Interval — the scores are equally spaced whole numbers running from one to five - C. Nominal — each score is simply a category the customer chose - D. Ratio — a score of 4 is twice as satisfied as a score of 2 Why - A. Correct — 4 is better than 3, but nobody has shown that 3→4 equals 4→5 in satisfaction. Order, yes; equal gaps, no. - B. The neighbouring-level trap. The digits are equally spaced; the thing they measure is not known to be. - C. The scores have an order — 5 beats 1 — so they are more than nominal categories. - D. There is no true zero of satisfaction and no basis for "twice". Ratio is two levels too high.

OpenStax Introductory Business Statistics 1e §1.2–1.3 (CC BY 4.0) — the four levels; examples original