Types of Data

Chapter 3- Stats

Nominal

Categories with no inherent order 

example: Blood type (A, B, AB, O), patient ID, gender, insurance type 

Ordinal

Ordered categories with unequal intervals

example: Pain scale (none, mild, moderate, severe), cancer stage (I-IV), triage priority

Interval

Ordered, equal intervals, no true zero

example: Temperature in °C or °F, dates on a calendar, SAT scores

Ratio

Ordered, equal intervals, true zero 

example: Weight, height, lab values (e.g., glucose, cholesterol), dosage of medication 

Discrete

Countable whole numbers

example: Number of ER visits, number of medications taken, number of falls

Continuous

Can take on any value in a range

example: Blood pressure, cholesterol level, BMI, heart rate (measured over time)