Descriptive comparisons can be (1) nominal—presence/absence or different types of attributes (e.g., the electoral system in Switzerland is proportional representation whereas in Britain it is plurality); (2) ordinal—more/less; or earlier/later and faster/slower in temporal comparisons (e.g., state formation occurred earlier in Britain than in Switzerland); or (3) quantitative (interval and ratio) when the values are continuous and quantifiable (e.g., the number of effective parties in Switzerland is 2.92 higher than in Britain).