Chapter 1.1, Problem 5P

Critical Thinking Numbers are often assigned to data that are categorical in nature.

1. (a) Consider these number assignments for category items describing electronic ways of expressing personal opinions:

   1 – Twitter; 2 – e-mail; 3 – text message; 4 – Facebook; 5 – blog

   Are these numerical assignments at the ordinal data level or higher? Explain.

2. (b) Consider these number assignments for category items describing usefulness of customer service:

   1 – not helpful; 2 – somewhat helpful; 3 – very helpful; 4 – extremely helpful

   Are these numerical assignments at the ordinal data level? Explain. What about at the interval level or higher? Explain.