Encoding ordinal data.  Ordinal data is data that has an order.  Ordinal data can be assumed to be interval.  The Likert scale distance from 1 to 2 has the same magnitude from 6 to 7.

Ordinal data can also be treated as if it were nominal.  In this case, each value has no ranking and is similar to colors in a crayon box.  There is no order.

Ultimately, the best practice is to try different encodings to see which works best for you.