Which statement distinguishes ordinal data from interval data?

• A. Ranks order with equal intervals.
• B. Ranks order without equal intervals.
• C. Are categories with no inherent order.
• D. Have a true zero point and equal intervals.

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that ordinal data show order but not equal gaps between levels, whereas interval data have meaningful, equal spacing between values.

So the best statement is that data are ranked and ordered, but the intervals between ranks are not necessarily equal. This captures the essence of ordinal data: you can say which item is higher, but you can’t claim how much bigger one value is than another because the gaps aren’t guaranteed to be the same.

In contrast, equal-spaced data describe interval data, allowing you to measure differences between values. The remaining options point to other types of data—one describes interval data with equal gaps, one describes nominal data with no inherent order, and the last describes ratio data with a true zero and equal intervals.