Explanation : The analyst is using an ordinal scale which involves sorting data into
categories that are ordered with respect to some characteristic, such as the
firms’ market capitalization value. An example is Standard & Poor’s star
ratings for mutual funds. One star represents the group of mutual funds
with the worst performance. Similarly, groups with two, three, four and five
stars represent groups with increasingly better performance.
Nominal scales categorize data but do not rank them. An example would
be the classification of mutual funds according to the investment
strategy followed – growth fund, value fund, income fund, emerging
equity fund etc.
Interval scales not only rank data, but also ensure that the differences
between scale values are equal. The Celsius and Fahrenheit scales are
examples of such scales. However, these scales do not have a true zero.