The document discusses various methods for scaling and measurement in research. It describes four main types of scales: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales. It also discusses sources of error in measurement and characteristics of sound measurement, including validity, reliability, and practicality. The document provides examples of different scaling techniques used in research, including rating scales, attitude scales, Thurstone scales, Likert scales, and semantic differential scales.

1. BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS
Dr.M.Saravanan
Associate Professor & Head
Department of Commerce (International Business)
Sree Narayana Guru College

2. Scales and Measurements :
A scale is a technique to measure some thing. Scaling is
used in ordering a series of items along sort of continuum. –
they are methods of turning a series of qualitative facts into a
quantitative series
Measurements are yardsticks – Measurement in research
consists of assigning numbers to empirical events in
compliance with a set of rules – Hence, measurement is a three
part process
(1)Selecting observable empirical events
(2)Developing a set of mapping rules ie a scheme for
assigning numbers
(3)Applying mapping rule to each observation of that event.
Example of studying people who attend a auto show

3. Different Scales :
1.Nominal Scale : It is simply a system of assigning number
symbols to events in order to label them – example: assigning
numbers to football players in order to identify them – just
for convenience – no quantitative value – can not come out
with a meaningful value – We use Mode as the measure of
Central Tendency – eg. classifying the residents of a city
according to religious preferences.
2.Ordinal Scale : The lowest level of the ordered scale that is
commonly used is the ordinal scale – This scale places events
in order – Eg. Rank orders represent ordinal scales – a
student’s rank in his graduation class involves the use of
ordinal scale – these scales have no absolute values – all that
we can say is that one person is higher or lower in rank on the
scale –

4. Ram’s rank is 10 and Mohan’s is 40 – what do you
conclude? – If a is greater than b and b is greater than c, then
a is greater than c – just mentions greater than or less than ,
without stating how much greater or less - the appropriate
method of central tendency is median
3. Interval Scale: It has the power of nominal and ordinal
scale plus one additional strength, the concept of equality of
intervals – eg. the interval between 1 and 2 equals the
difference between 2 and 3. In this case the intervals are
adjusted in terms of some rule that has been established as a
basis for making the units equal – these scales can have an
arbitrary zero – it lacks a true zero – The Fahrenheit scale is
an example of an interval scale – Mean is the appropriate
measure of central tendency

5. 4.Ratio Scale : It incorporates all the powers of previous
three Scales-They have an absolute or true zero of
measurement – Eg measurement of physical dimentions
like height, weight, distance and area- geometric mean or
harmonic mean are the measures of central tendency
Sources of error in measurement :
1. Respondent:nonresponce, response bias
2. Situation –third party present, location of the interview,
3. Measurer – behavior, style and looks of investigator may
encourage or discourage certain replies from the
respondent, gesture of the measurer,
4. Failing to record full response
5. Instrument – e.g. use of complex words, ambiguous
meaning etc.

6. Characteristics of Sound Measurement :
Sound measurement must meet the tests of Validity,
Reliability and Practicality.
Test of Validity : It refers to the extent to which a test
measures what we actually wish to measure – it can also be
thought of as Utility – validity is the extent to which
differences found with a measuring instrument reflect true
differences among those being tested.
Test of Reliability : A measuring instrument is reliable if it
provides consistent results – eg. if a scale is consistently
overweighs objects by 5 kgs is a reliable scale but is not a
valid scale – Reliability is concerned with estimates of
degree to which measurement is free of random or unstable
error.

7. Test of Practicality :This can be judged in terms of
economy, convenience and interpretability
Scaling : It is defined as ‘ the procedure for the
assignment of numbers ( or symbols) to a property of
objects in order to impart some of the characteristics of
numbers to the properties in question’.
It describes the procedure of assigning numbers to
various degrees of opinion, attitudes and other concepts –
a scale is a continnum, consisting of the highest point and
the lowest point

8. Important Scaling Techniques :
Rating Scales : It involves qualitative description of a
limited number of aspects of a thing or of traits of a
person – we judge properties of objects without
reference to other similar objects – these ratings are in
the form of “like – dislike”, “excellent-good-average-
below average-poor”. In practice three to seven point
scales are generally used
There are two types of Rating scale- (1) The Graphic
Rating Scale : various points are usually put along the
line to form a continuum and the rater indicates his
rating.
Eg. How do you like the product
excellent Very good good average poor

9. 2) The Itemized rating scale ( Numerical Scale) :
It presents a series of statements from which a respondent
Selects one as best reflecting his evaluation.
Eg. suppose we want to enquire as to how well does a worker get
along with his fellow workers:
a. He is almost always involved in some friction with fellow worker
b. He is often at odds with one or more of his fellow workers
c. He some times gets involved in friction
d. He frequently becomes involved in friction with others
e. He almost never gets involved in friction with fellow workers

10. Attitude Scales :
Thurstone defined ‘Attitude’ as “the degree of positive or
negative feeling associated with some psychological object like
symbol, phrase, slogan, person, institution, ideal or ideas towards
which people can differ in varying degrees.”
While measuring the attitudes of the people, we generally
follow the technique of preparing the opinionnaire ( attitude scale)
in such a way that the score of the individual responses assigns him
a place on a scale.
People may conceal their attitudes and express socially
acceptable opinions – They may not really know how they feel
about a social issue – People may be unaware of their attitude
about an abstract situation until confronted with real situation –
even behaviour itself is at times not a true indication of attitude.
Eg- Politicians kissing babies
Is this bevaviour a true expression of affection towards infants? No
Hence there is no sure method of measuring attitude.

11. With all these limitations, several attitude scales were developed,
they are :
1. Arbitrary scales:
Are developed on ad hoc basis and are designed largely on
researcher’s own subjective selection of items – researcher
himself first collects few statements or items which he believes
are unambiguous and appropriate to a given topic – some of
these instruments are selected for inclusion in the measuring
instrument.
Eg. consider a company image study –
How do you regard company’s reputation :
1. As a place to work : Bad -- -- -- Good
2. As a institution of social responsibility : Bad -- -- -- Good
These scales are easy to develop and relatively less expensive
Demerits are – no objective evidence and we have to rely on
researcher’s insight and competence

12. 2. 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. 3) Summated Scales ( Likert Scale )
This scale consists of a set of items ( statements) to which the
subject is asked to react. The respondents are asked to respond to
each item in terms of several degrees of agreement or
disagreement and the scores may be, for eg. strongly agree - 5 ;
agree-4; undecided-3; disagree – 2; and strongly disagree – 1.
Total score is obtained when all the weights are summated
4)Semantic Differential (S D) Scale:
This is developed by Charles E.O.S GOOD and others in 1957. The
word Semantic means relating to meaning in language. SD scaling
is an attempt to measure the psychological meanings of an object.
This scaling technique is used rather easily in decisional survey
research. Its main use has been in connection with comparison of
brand and company images, determination of attitudinal
characteristics of consumers and analysis of the effectiveness of
promotional activities.

15. “The S D scale is a technique for psychological measuring of
things, usually concepts or objects of people. It consists of a series
or set of descriptive adjectives or phrases which are polar
opposite”. They are generally classified into three categories
1.Evaluative : Good – Bad ; Beautiful – Ugly; Clean – Dirty;
Fair-Unfair
2.Potency : Large – Small; Strong – Weak; Thick – Thin;
Loud-Soft; Deep – Shallow.
3.Activity : Fast – Slow; Active – Passive; Sharp-Dull.
The respondents are asked to describe the concept under
investigation according to the set of scales using the method of
rating. Thus, the technique enables an investigator to examine
both the context and intensity of people’s attitudes.