An associative array (also known as a map, dictionary, or hash table) is best suited for this kind of task where you have a key-value pair, where the key is the staff member's name and the value is their office room number. This allows for quick lookups of room numbers associated with staff names. Using a standard array would not be efficient, as it does not associate room numbers with names directly. A variable is too limited as it typically holds a single value or data point. A string cannot inherently represent the key-value relationship and would require additional mechanisms to pair room numbers with staff names.