Dichotomous data are...

Dichotomous data are...

• A. Nominal data with exactly two categories
• B. Ordinal data with two ranks
• C. Interval data with two equal intervals
• D. Ratio data with two meaningful zeros

Answer: (A)

Two-valued qualitative data are called dichotomous data. They consist of exactly two categories and, like other nominal data, do not imply any natural order or equal intervals between the categories. Coding them as 0 and 1 doesn’t change their nature—it’s simply a label for the two categories. The other scale types (ordinal with an order, interval with equal spacing, or ratio with a meaningful zero) require additional structure that dichotomous data do not inherently have, so the best description is nominal data with two categories.

Two-valued qualitative data are called dichotomous data. They consist of exactly two categories and, like other nominal data, do not imply any natural order or equal intervals between the categories. Coding them as 0 and 1 doesn’t change their nature—it’s simply a label for the two categories. The other scale types (ordinal with an order, interval with equal spacing, or ratio with a meaningful zero) require additional structure that dichotomous data do not inherently have, so the best description is nominal data with two categories.