The example 'Type of phobia' illustrates which measurement level?

The example 'Type of phobia' illustrates which measurement level?

• A. Interval
• B. Ratio
• C. Ordinal
• D. Nominal

Answer: (D)

Classification by labels without any inherent order is the idea here. A type of phobia uses category labels (arachnophobia, acrophobia, claustrophobia, etc.) to name groups, and these labels don’t carry a rank or meaningful numeric spacing. You can count how many people fall into each phobia type, but you can’t say that one type is more or less than another or that there’s a consistent interval between types. That’s what makes it nominal data. If you were dealing with an order (like mild, moderate, severe) or with actual numeric measurements that imply equal steps or a true zero, you’d be looking at ordinal, interval, or ratio levels instead. Here, the emphasis is simply naming categories, so nominal is the correct fit.

Classification by labels without any inherent order is the idea here. A type of phobia uses category labels (arachnophobia, acrophobia, claustrophobia, etc.) to name groups, and these labels don’t carry a rank or meaningful numeric spacing. You can count how many people fall into each phobia type, but you can’t say that one type is more or less than another or that there’s a consistent interval between types. That’s what makes it nominal data. If you were dealing with an order (like mild, moderate, severe) or with actual numeric measurements that imply equal steps or a true zero, you’d be looking at ordinal, interval, or ratio levels instead. Here, the emphasis is simply naming categories, so nominal is the correct fit.