Students in an introductory art class are classified as art majors and nonart majors. What scale of measurement is being used to classify the students?

Students in an introductory art class are classified as art majors and nonart majors. What scale of measurement is being used to classify the students?

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

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that this is a labeling of categories with no inherent order. Classifying students as art majors or nonart majors uses a nominal scale: you can count how many fall into each category, but you cannot say one category is higher, lower, or that meaningful differences or ratios exist between them. The other scales require some kind of ordering or quantitative meaning. An ordinal scale would involve ranked positions, which isn’t present here. Interval scales imply equal intervals between values with no true zero, and ratio scales require a true zero and meaningful ratios—neither applies to simply labeling majors.

The key idea is that this is a labeling of categories with no inherent order. Classifying students as art majors or nonart majors uses a nominal scale: you can count how many fall into each category, but you cannot say one category is higher, lower, or that meaningful differences or ratios exist between them.

The other scales require some kind of ordering or quantitative meaning. An ordinal scale would involve ranked positions, which isn’t present here. Interval scales imply equal intervals between values with no true zero, and ratio scales require a true zero and meaningful ratios—neither applies to simply labeling majors.