Identify the level of measurement for your close-ended questions. For instance,if your question asks, "Do you favor or oppose U.S. policy in Iraq?", possible answersare a. favor b. oppose, and this would be a nominal level of measurement. If yourquestion asks about the respondents' opinions on the legality of abortion, possibleanswers may include (1) The decision about whether to have an abortion shouldbelong solely to the pregnant woman, (2) It depends, (3) It should be legal if thepregnancy results from rape, (4) Abortion should be illegal even in circumstances thatthreaten the health or life of the pregnant woman. In this case, option 4 is much morerestrictive than option "1" so these choices can be rank ordered. If the answerchoices of your question can be rank-ordered (as in the example), it is an ordinal levelof measurement