Measurement & Scaling

Measurement & Scaling

• Measurement: Measurement is the process of observing and
recording the observations that are collected as part of research. The recording of
the observations may be in terms of numbers or other symbols to characteristics
of objects according to certain prescribed rules. The respondent’s, characteristics
are feelings, attitudes, opinions etc. The most important aspect of measurement is
the specification of rules for assigning numbers to characteristics. The rules for
assigning numbers should be standardized and applied uniformly. This must not
change over time or objects.

• Scaling: Scaling is the assignment of objects to numbers or semantics

according to a rule. In scaling, the objects are text statements, usually
statements of attitude, opinion, or feeling.
 Types of scale
1. Nominal scale - the simplest; categories with names (e.g., for
drinking vessels: mugs, goblets, cups, juice glasses, etc.)
2. Ordinal scale - when the terms in question can be rank ordered
(intervals between ranks may not be ordered) (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd
place at a track meet - no information about how far apart the
winners were)
3. Interval scale - when the terms in question can be rank ordered and
equal intervals separate them, but there is no zero point (e.g.,
temperatures in °C, when at 0 °C temperature doesn't cease to exist
but interval of 1°C is constant)
4. Ratio scale - goes one step further; it assumes the presence of a zero
point (e.g., measurement of sound in decibels, zero means no sound
and intervals are strict)
 Types of Scale
• When a researcher is interested in measuring the attitudes, feelings or opinions of
respondents he/she should be clear about the following: a) What is to be measured? b)
Who is to be measured? c) The choices available in data collection techniques
• The level of measurement refers to the relationship among the values that are
assigned to the attributes, feelings or opinions for a variable. Typically, there are four
levels of measurement scales or methods of assigning numbers: (a) Nominal scale, (b)
Ordinal scale, (c) Interval scale, and (d) Ratio scale.
• Nominal Scale is the crudest ( Natural form/unprocessed) among all measurement
scales but it is also the simplest scale. In this scale the different scores on a
measurement simply indicate different categories. The nominal scale does not express
any values or relationships between variables. The nominal scale is often referred to as
a categorical scale. The assigned numbers have no arithmetic properties and act only
as labels. The only statistical operation that can be performed on nominal scales is a
frequency count. We cannot determine an average except mode. For example: labeling
men as ‘1’ and women as ‘2’ which is the most common way of labeling gender for
data recording purpose does not mean women are ‘twice something or other’ than
men. Nor it suggests that men are somehow ‘better’ than women.
 Types of Scale
• Ordinal Scale involves the ranking of items along the continuum of the characteristic
being scaled. In this scale, the items are classified according to whether they have
more or less of a characteristic. The main characteristic of the ordinal scale is that the
categories have a logical or ordered relationship. This type of scale permits the
measurement of degrees of difference, (i.e. ‘more’ or ‘less’) but not the specific
amount of differences (i.e. how much ‘more’ or ‘less’). This scale is very common in
marketing, satisfaction and attitudinal research. Using ordinal scale data, we can
perform statistical analysis like Median and Mode, but not the Mean. For example, a
fast food home delivery shop may wish to ask its customers: How would you rate the
service of our staff? (1) Excellent • (2) Very Good • (3) Good • (4) Poor • (5) Worst •
• Interval Scale is a scale in which the numbers are used to rank attributes such that
numerically equal distances on the scale represent equal distance in the characteristic
being measured. An interval scale contains all the information of an ordinal scale, but it
also one allows to compare the difference/distance between attributes. Interval scales
may be either in numeric or semantic formats. The interval scales allow the calculation
of averages like Mean, Median and Mode and dispersion like Range and Standard
Deviation. For example, the difference between ‘1’ and ‘2’ is equal to the difference
between ‘3’ and ‘4’. Further, the difference between ‘2’ and ‘4’ is twice the difference
between ‘1’ and ‘2’. Measuring temperature is an example of interval scale. But, we
cannot say 40°C is twice as hot as 20°C.
 Types of Scale
• Ratio Scale is the highest level of measurement scales. This has the
properties of an interval scale together with a fixed (absolute) zero point. The
absolute zero point allows us to construct a meaningful ratio. Ratio scales permit
the researcher to compare both differences in scores and relative magnitude of
scores. Examples of ratio scales include weights, lengths and times. For example,
the number of customers of a bank’s ATM in the last three months is a ratio scale.
This is because you can compare this with previous three months. For example,
the difference between 10 and 15 minutes is the same as the difference between
25 and 30 minutes and 30 minutes is twice as long as 15 minutes
 Comparative Scaling
• In comparative scaling, the respondent is asked to
compare one object with another. The comparative scales can
further be divided into the following four types of scaling
techniques: (a) Paired Comparison Scale, (b) Rank Order Scale, (c)
Constant Sum Scale, and (d) Q-sort Scale.
• Paired Comparison Scale: This is a comparative scaling
technique in which a respondent is presented with two objects at a
time and asked to select one object according to some criterion.
The data obtained are ordinal in nature. For example, there are
four types of cold drinks Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, and Limca. The
respondents can prefer Pepsi to Coke or Coke to Sprite, etc.
 Comparative Scaling
• Rank Order Scale: This is another type of comparative scaling technique in
which respondents are presented with several items simultaneously and
asked to rank them in the order of priority. This is an ordinal scale that
describes the favoured and unfavoured objects, but does not reveal the
distance between the objects. The resultant data in rank order is ordinal
data. This yields better results when direct comparison are required between
the given objects. The major disadvantage of this technique is that only
ordinal data can be generated.
• Constant Sum Scale: In this scale, the respondents are asked to allocate a
constant sum of units such as points, rupees, or chips among a set of
stimulus objects with respect to some criterion. For example, you may wish
to determine how important the attributes of price, packaging, cleaning
power, and lather of a detergent are to consumers. Respondents might be
asked to divide a constant sum to indicate the relative importance of the
attributes. The advantage of this technique is saving time. However, main
disadvantages are the respondents may allocate more or fewer points than
those specified. The second problem is respondents might be confused.
 Comparative Scaling
• Q-Sort Scale: This is a comparative scale that uses a rank order procedure to
sort objects based on similarity with respect to some criterion. The important
characteristic of this methodology is that it is more important to make
comparisons among different responses of a respondent than the responses
between different respondents. Therefore, it is a comparative method of scaling
rather than an absolute rating scale. In this method the respondent is given
statements in a large number for describing the characteristics of a product or a
large number of brands of a product.
 Non-comparative scaling
• In non-comparative scaling respondents need only evaluate a single
object. Their evaluation is independent of the other object which
the researcher is studying. The non-comparative scaling techniques
can be further divided into: (a)Continuous Rating Scale, and
(b)Itemized Rating Scale.
• Continuous Rating Scales : It is very simple and highly
useful. In continuous rating scale, the respondent’s rate the objects by
placing a mark at the appropriate position on a continuous line that
runs from one extreme of the criterion variable to the other. Example :
Question: How would you rate the TV advertisement as a guide for
buying?
• Itemized Rating Scales : Itemized rating scale is a scale having numbers or brief
descriptions associated with each category. The categories are ordered in terms of scale position
and the respondents are required to select one of the limited number of categories that best
describes the product, brand, company, or product attribute being rated. Itemized rating scales are
widely used in marketing research. Itemized rating scales is further divided into three parts, namely
(a) Likert scale, (b) Semantic Differential Scale, and (c) Stapel Scale.
• The itemised rating scales can be in the form of : (a) graphic, (b) verbal, or (c) numeric as shown
below :
• Likert Scale: Likert, is extremely popular for measuring attitudes, because, the
method is simple to administer. With the Likert scale, the respondents indicate
their own attitudes by checking how strongly they agree or disagree with carefully
worded statements that range from very positive to very negative towards the
attitudinal object. Respondents generally choose from five alternatives (say
strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly disagree). A
Likert scale may include a number of items or statements. Disadvantage of Likert
Scale is that it takes longer time to complete than other itemised rating scales
because respondents have to read each statement. Despite the above
disadvantages, this scale has several advantages. It is easy to construct, administer
and use.
• Semantic Differential Scale: This is a seven point rating scale with
end points associated with bipolar labels (such as good and bad,
complex and simple) that have semantic meaning. It can be used to
find whether a respondent has a positive or negative attitude
towards an object. It has been widely used in comparing brands,
products and company images. It has also been used to develop
advertising and promotion strategies and in a new product
development study.
• Staple Scale: The Stapel scale was originally developed to measure
the direction and intensity of an attitude simultaneously. Modern
versions of the Stapel scale place a single adjective as a substitute
for the Semantic differential when it is difficult to create pairs of
bipolar adjectives. The modified Stapel scale places a single
adjective in the centre of an even number of numerical Values.
 Issues relating to scale
• A number of issues decide the choice of
scaling technique. Some significant issues are:
1) Problem Definition and Statistical Analysis,
2) The Choice between Comparative and Non-
comparative Scales, 3) Type of Category
Labels, 4) Number of Categories, 5) Balanced
versus Unbalanced Scale, and 6) Forced versus
Non-forced Categories