For each data set determine if it is quantitative or qualitative & which level of measurement best applies.
(C) Participants rate their symptoms as mild, moderate, or severe.

• A. Qualitative, Nominal
• B. Quantitative, Interval
• C. Qualitative, Ordinal
• D. Quantitative, Ratio

Answer: (C)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data describes categories or qualities and cannot be measured numerically, while quantitative data represents numerical measurements or counts.
2. Step 2: Identify the nature of the data in the problem. Participants rate their symptoms as 'mild', 'moderate', or 'severe', which are descriptive categories rather than numerical values, so this data is qualitative.
3. Step 3: Determine the level of measurement for qualitative data. The levels are nominal and ordinal. Nominal data categorizes without any order, while ordinal data categorizes with a meaningful order or ranking.
4. Step 4: Since 'mild', 'moderate', and 'severe' imply a ranking of symptom severity, the data has a natural order, making it ordinal level of measurement.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the data is qualitative and measured at the ordinal level, because the categories represent ordered levels of symptom severity.