nominal scale

British

noun

statistics a discrete classification of data, in which data are neither measured nor ordered but subjects are merely allocated to distinct categories: for example, a record of students' course choices constitutes nominal data which could be correlated with school results Compare ordinal scale interval scale ratio scale

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Data that is measured using an ordinal scale is similar to nominal scale data but there is a big difference.

From Textbooks • Sep. 19, 2013

Smartphone companies are another example of nominal scale data.

From Textbooks • Sep. 19, 2013

Like the nominal scale data, ordinal scale data cannot be used in calculations.

From Textbooks • Sep. 19, 2013

And not to deliberately make you happy, which it will, I am jealous albeit on a nominal scale as anchored as I am in reason.

From Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023