Nominal = the items examined are placed in two or three groups that differ in name but do not obey any particular order or any quantitative relationship; Ordinal = the panelist places the items examined into two or more groups that belong to an ordered series (e.g. level of intensity); Interval = panelists place the items into numbered groups separated by a constant interval (e.g., three, four, five, six); Ratio = panelists use numbers that indicate how many times the stimulus in question is stronger than a reference stimulus presented earlier; Nominal data contains the least information. ordinal data carries more information and can be analyzed by most nonparametric statistical tests. Interval and ratio data are even better because they can be analyzed by all nonparametric methods and often by parametric methods. Ratio data is preferred by some because it is free from end of scale distortions, however, in practice, interval data, which is easier to collect, appears to give equal results