Ordinal quantities in clinical laboratory sciences

Abstract

From an ontological point of view, the concept ‘property’ may be defined as “that which when possessed by an object contributes to it being as it is”. Ordinal quantity is one of the types into which properties may be divided. Ordinal quantity is understood internationally as a “quantity defined by a conventional measurement procedure, for which a total ordering relation can be established, according to magnitude, with other quantities of the same kind, but for which no algebraic operations among those quantities exist”. The term ordinal quantity may be preceded by an adjective (generic, subgeneric, specific, or individual) to clarify the relation object–property. Ordinal quantities may have values belonging to binary ordinal scales and polinay ordinal scales.