In a school election, 5 people run for student body president. The actual number of votes for each candidate would be a ___ variable. If the total number of votes were removed and the candidates were listed in order of least to most popular, this would be a __ variable.
a. ratio, ordinal
b. ordinal, ratio
c. ratio nominal
d. nominal, ordinal
http://drdavespsychologypage.homestead.com/Two___Two_____four.pdf
The actual number of votes for each candidate would be a ratio variable because it represents a quantitative measure that has a meaningful zero point, and the values can be compared and mathematically manipulated.
If the total number of votes were removed and the candidates were listed in order of least to most popular, this would be an ordinal variable. Ordinal variables have categories that can be ranked or ordered, but the differences between the categories may not be equal or meaningful.
Therefore, the correct answer is b. ordinal, ratio.