National Counselor Exam (NCE)

What type of measurement is represented by Terry's average score in basketball?

1. Nominal

2. Ordinal

3. Interval

4. Ratio

The correct answer is: Ordinal

Terry's average score in basketball is best represented as a ratio measurement. This is because ratio measurements possess all the characteristics of an interval measurement, such as the ability to measure the magnitude and the presence of equal intervals between scores, but they also include an absolute zero point. In basketball, a score of zero indicates a complete absence of points, which allows for the calculation of meaningful ratios. For example, if one player scores 20 points and another scores 10 points, it can be stated that the first player scored twice as many points as the second. This capability to make such comparisons is a key feature of ratio measurement. While nominal measurement categorizes data without a specific order and ordinal measurement indicates a clear order without uniformity in the differences between scores, Terry’s average score involves not just ordering but also quantified differences with a real zero, making it a ratio measurement. Interval measurement, while also involving ordered differences, lacks a true zero, which is why it doesn't fit in this scenario either.