When qualitative data is arranged in a sequence, what is it called?

When qualitative data is arranged in a sequence, it is referred to as ordinal data. This type of data involves categories that can be ordered or ranked in a meaningful way, even though the exact differences between the ranks may not be quantifiable. For example, a satisfaction survey that categorizes responses as 'poor', 'fair', 'good', and 'excellent' illustrates ordinal data because the responses have a logical order but the intervals between categories are not uniform or measurable.

In contrast, nominal data refers to categories without any inherent order, such as types of fruit or colors. Discrete data is a type of quantitative data that can only take specific values, often whole numbers, such as the count of people. Quantitative data itself includes numerical values that can represent measurable quantities. In this context, ordinal data is correctly noted because it captures the essence of qualitative data that is sequenced.