Alteryx Foundation Micro-Credential Practice Exam

What is an example of a set of ordinal data?

1. Colors and zip codes

2. Big, medium, small; before, during, after

3. Surnames and ages

4. Scores on a test

The correct answer is: Big, medium, small; before, during, after

Ordinal data is a categorical variation where the categories have a meaningful order, but the intervals between the categories are not necessarily uniform. The example provided in the correct choice, "Big, medium, small; before, during, after," illustrates this characteristic perfectly. In this example, the terms "big," "medium," and "small" clearly indicate a ranking in size, while "before," "during," and "after" show a sequence in time. These sets represent ordered categories where one can infer a greater or lesser value or a temporal relationship, making them inherently ordinal. The other choices do not effectively represent ordinal data. Colors and zip codes do not have an inherent order; they are nominal data. Surnames and ages are also not ordinal since while ages can be ranked, surnames do not have a rank order. Scores on a test can represent numerical values, and while they might be ranked, they are typically considered interval data rather than ordinal data due to the exact differences that can be calculated between the scores.