ordinal variable
a variable whose possible values have a clear rank order. For example, attitude is an ordinal variable as it may be denoted with ordered points indicating increasing or decreasing values, such as 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, and 4 = strongly agree. Values on an ordinal variable indicate that one data point is higher or lower than another but do not define the extent of the difference between them. Compare interval variable.