You want to add education level to your Income Survey data set. In what order should you sort the data?

Sorting the data from lowest to highest education attainment level is beneficial because it creates a logical progression that allows for clearer comparisons and better analysis of how income correlates with education. This ordering helps illustrate trends and patterns, such as whether higher education levels correspond to higher income brackets. By organizing the data in this manner, analysts can more easily determine the impact of education on income, facilitating insights into the relationship between these two variables.

In contrast, sorting by total income could obscure these relationships, as individuals with varying education levels might be mixed together, making it harder to analyze education's effect. Alphabetical sorting by education level might also not capture the ordinal nature of educational attainment, where certain levels are intrinsically higher than others (e.g., PhD vs. High School). Random sorting offers no systematic benefit and would make it challenging to discern any patterns within the data concerning education and income. Thus, an ordered approach based on education attainment best serves the objective of this analysis.