Which of these is an example of ordinal data?

Ordinal data refers to a type of categorical data where the categories can be ordered or ranked according to some criteria. The most common example is a scale that indicates a level of satisfaction or quality, where each category represents a different level that has a meaningful order.

In the case of the answer provided, "Good, Fair, Poor rating scale" is a clear example of ordinal data because the terms can be ranked in a meaningful way: ‘Good’ represents a higher level of quality than ‘Fair’, which in turn is better than ‘Poor’. This ranking conveys information about the order of the categories, which is a fundamental characteristic of ordinal data.

Other options do not fit the requirements of ordinal data. For instance, temperature measurements and categories like zero degrees Celsius or the temperature of cities are examples of interval data that do not suggest a ranking by levels of quality. Categories of pollution sources represent nominal data, as they are simply labels without any inherent order. Thus, the good, fair, and poor scale exemplifies how ordinal data incorporates ranking, allowing for comparative analysis between different categories based on their quality.