American Board of Surgery Qualifying Exam (ABS QE) Practice Test

Which type of data consists of categories with no inherent order?

1. Ordinal Data

2. Continuous Data

3. Nominal Data

4. Ratio Data

The correct answer is: Nominal Data

Nominal data is characterized by categories that do not have a specific order or ranking among them. This type of data is used to label distinct categories, allowing for classification without implying any type of quantitative relationship. For example, nominal data can include categories such as gender, race, or types of treatment, where each category is merely different from the others without any inherent sequence. In contrast, ordinal data consists of categories that can be ordered or ranked but do not have consistent intervals between the ranks. Continuous data represents measurable quantities that can take any value within a range, while ratio data is similar to continuous data but has a true zero point that allows for the comparison of magnitudes. Thus, the defining feature of nominal data is its lack of an inherent order, making it the correct answer in this context.