Is this data considered nominal or ordinal?

Question

Hi, I can't decide whethere this data would be considered ordinal or nominal
The question is how often do you see a movie?
Never, on speciall occassions, weekly, daily.

I have a feleing it's nominal becuase you can't really give the responses any real order i.e. can't say watching a movie weekly> never watching a movie.

Also, could you tell me if i'm right on this one,
How worried are you about climate change?
Unaffected, slightly affected, a little concerned, worried and very worried.

I said that one was ordinal but i'm not entirely sure because the responses aren't very well worded, I'd appreciate any helps...thanks.

Answer 1

I don't agree with you about the first one. Frequency of watching movies is not purely a categorical statement: the categories can be ranked by magnitude, not just description.



So "never" has greater between-event status than "weekly." Similarly, "weekly" has greater between-event status than "daily." The awkward one is "special occasions", which is placed as if it has greater between-event status than "weekly." But who says so and what is a special occasion?



Even so, I feel that these data could be treated as ordinal. It would be possible in principle to calculate the Mode and possible the Median from the responses. That's always a good test.



The same is true for the climate change question. In theory, you could rig up a worry meter to the respondents, to measure their skin electrical resistance or eye-pupil size, and so estimate the "size" of their worry. By asking these questions in the way you have been given, I think we could say that "very worried" > " unaffected."



I would treat them as ordinal.



OK?

Answer 2

A variable is ordinal if there is any sensible order to the data. In the first example there certainly is an order. "Never" if less frequent than "only on special occasions" which is less frequent than "weekly" which is less frequent than "daily".



The worried scale is also ordinal for a similar reason.



A truly nominal or un-ordered variable would be your favourite drink. Coffee is less than tea or more than tea makes no sense.

Answer 3

The definition I have for ordinal is e.g. first, second.....eleventh, twelfth....so I guess the answer is nominal.



Unaffected - believe the forces/cycles of globe still swamp man's impact. Can't prove it though!