Scaling & Measurement Techniques

1. SCALING &
MEASUREMENT
TECHNIQUES

2. Techniques for Measuring Attitudes
 A remarkable variety of techniques has been devised
to measure attitudes. This variety stems in part from
lack of consensus about the exact definition of the
concept.
 Respondents usually have different attitudes towards
different aspects. Only when the attitude of
respondents are ascertained on an issue by
formulating a question for each aspect, using either
open ended or closed ended questions , the attitude
towards each aspect are found out.

3. Measuring attitudes: scales Attitude
Rating Scales
 all data fall into one of two categories:
 • Quantitative data are numbers. They describe
quantities. Quantitative data arise from questions
like ‘how much?’, ‘how far?’, ‘how often?’, and
‘how long for?’
 • Qualitative data are non-numerical. They describe
qualities. Quantitative data arise from attempts to
describe things and are often verbal although they
can take other forms (e.g. pictures).

4. Meaning of Measurement and
Scaling
 Measurement: The term ‘measurement’ means
assigning numbers or some other symbols to the
characteristics of certain objects. When numbers
are used, the researcher must have a rule for
assigning a number to an observation in a way
that provides an accurate description.
 Scaling: Scaling is an extension of measurement.
Scaling involves creating a continuum on which
measurements on objects are located.

5. ISSUES IN ATTITUDE
MEASUREMENT
 Measurement implies the process of obtaining
information which can be subject to analysis.
Attitude measurement relates to the process of
measuring an individual's attitude towards an
object. When we go for measurement of attitudes
or any other parameter, one has to clearly sort out
the following :
• "what" has to be measured ?
• "who" is to be measured ?
• the accuracy desired in the measurement
• the costs permissible
• the choices available in the measurement/data collection
techniques.

6. Category Scales
 The simplest rating scale contains only two response categories: agree/disagree.
Expanding the
 response categories provides the respondent with more flexibility in the rating task.
Even more
 information is provided if the categories are ordered according to a particular
descriptive or evaluative
 dimension. Consider the following question:
 How often do you disagree with your spouse about how much to spend on
vacation?
 Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very often

 This category scale is a more sensitive measure than a scale that has only two
response categories.
 By having more choices for a respondent, the potential exists to provide more
information.
 However, if the researcher tries to represent something that is truly bipolar (yes/no,
female/male,
 member/nonmember, and so on) with more than two categories, error may be
introduced.

7. 1. LIKERT SCALE
 The respondents are given a certain number of items
(statements) on which they are asked to express their degree
of agreement/disagreement.
 This is also called a summated scale because the scores on
individual items can be added together to produce a total
score for the respondent.
 An assumption of the Likert scale is that each of the items
(statements) measures some aspect of a single common
factor, otherwise the scores on the items cannot legitimately
be summed up.
 In a typical research study, there are generally 25 to 30 items
on a Likert scale.

8. EXAMPLE OF LIKERT SCALE

9. 2. Semantic Differential Scale
 This scale is widely used to compare the images of
competing brands, companies or services.
 Here the respondent is required to rate each attitude or
object on a number of five-or seven-point rating scales.
 This scale is bounded at each end by bipolar adjectives or
phrases.
 The difference between Likert and Semantic differential
scale is that in Likert scale, a number of statements (items)
are presented to the respondents to express their degree of
agreement/disagreement. However, in the semantic
differential scale, bipolar adjectives or phrases are used.

10. EXAMPLE OF SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL SCALE

11. Numerical Scales
 A numerical scale simply provides numbers rather than a semantic
space or verbal descriptions
 to identify response options or categories (response positions). For example, a
scale using five
 response positions is called a five-point numerical scale. A six-point scale has six
positions and a
 seven-point scale seven positions, and so on. Consider the following numerical
scale:
 Now that you’ve had your automobile for about one year, please tell us how
 satisfied you are with your Ford Taurus.
 Extremely Dissatisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely Satisfied
 This numerical scale uses bipolar adjectives in the same manner as the semantic
differential.
 In practice, researchers have found that a scale with numerical labels for
intermediate points
 on the scale is as effective a measure as the true semantic differential. The
Research Snapshot
 above demonstrates how numerical scales can be helpful in assessing Web site
effectiveness.

12. Thurstone Scale ( Differential scale )
 This has been developed using consensus scale approach –
In this approach the selection of items is made by a panel of
judges who evaluate the items in terms of whether they are
relevant to the topic of area.
 Detailed procedure : 1) The researcher gather a large
number of statements, usually 20 or more ; 2) These
statements are submitted to a panel of judges ( 50 to 300
judges ), requesting them to classify these statements into
eleven groups. Those statements which he/she considers
most favourable to the object are put in the first group;
those considered next most in the second group ……… those
consider most unfavourable in the last group.

13.  It may be noted here that only the neutral and the two
extreme categories ( most favoured and most unfavoured)
on which the statements are to be judged are defined. The
remaining eight are unlabelled to create the impression of
equal appearing intervals between the three labels.
 3) The scale value of a statement is computed as the median
position to which it is assigned by the group of judges.
 4) A final selection is made taking items or statements that
are spread out evenly along the scale from one extreme
position to the other and for which there are more judges’
agreement.

14.  Thurstone scale is a fairly complex process that requires two
stages. The first stage is a ranking operation, performed by
judges who assign scale values to attitudinal statements. The
second stage consists of asking subjects to respond to the
attitudinal statements.
 The Thurstone method is time-consuming and costly. From a
historical perspective, it is valuable,but its current popularity
is low. This method is rarely used in applied research settings.

15. The cumulative scale, Guttman scale.
 In the deterministic attitude measurement techniques the underlying
assumption is that each statement has a perfect relationship, of one
type or another, with the particular dimension of the attitude being
investigated.
 Example.

16.  Usually a person who answers YES to 1, would have a high probability
of answering as YES to the subsequent statements. Any person who
does not answer as YES to 1 but does answer as YES to 2 would have a
high probability of answering YES to the later items. Any set of items
that produces a pattern of responses as we have described here is called
a Guttman Scale.
 Guttman scale analysis is usually applied to dichotomous data, i.e., data
with only two values, YES or NO, 0 or 1, agree or disagree, etc.
However, a number of reasons have made the Guttman scale an
impractical tool for the measurement of attitudes.
 It is one of the most difficult scales to construct and this scale does not
have much of relevance for the beginners.

17. 1.5 Ethics and business research
 Ethics in business research refers to a code of
conduct or expected societal norm of behavior while
conducting research.
 Ethical conduct applies to the organization and the
members that sponsor the research, the researchers
who undertake the research, and the respondents
who provide them with the necessary data.

18. Validity & reliability separate PPT