Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of data collected in cancer registries?

Data collected in cancer registries is crucial for understanding cancer incidence, treatment, and outcomes, which necessitates certain characteristics to ensure its quality and utility.

One of the key aspects of cancer registry data is that it must be accurate. This ensures that healthcare professionals can rely on the information for research, treatment planning, and public health policy. Timeliness is also essential because data need to be current to inform ongoing clinical practices and epidemiological studies. Comprehensiveness is another critical characteristic, as cancer registries aim to capture all instances of cancer to provide a complete picture of cancer incidence and outcomes in a specific population.

In terms of data types, not all data in cancer registries is classified as ordinal. While some data could be ordinal (which reflects a ranking or order, such as stage of cancer), other types of data collected could be nominal (categorical data without a specific order, like cancer type) or continuous (like patient age). This variety means that asserting that all data is always ordinal is not accurate.

Hence, the selection of "not a characteristic" being ordinal is correct, as it recognizes that cancer registry data encompasses a range of data types beyond just ordinal classifications.