MEASUREMENTS

DR . NUR SOPHIA BINTI RUSLI

Meaning of Scaling
 Scaling describe the procedures of assigning
of numbers 0r symbols (i.e., quantitative
measures) to subjective abstract concepts (or
properties of objects) This can be done in two
ways viz.,

1. Making a judgement about some

characteristic of an individual and then
placing him directly on a scale that has been
defined in terms of that characteristic.
2. Constructing questionnaires in such a way
that the score of individual’s responses
assigns him a place on a scale.

 Scaling involves creating a continuum upon

which measured objects are located.
These scale –point positions are so related to
each other that when the first point happens
to be the highest point, the second point
indicates a higher degree in terms of a given
characteristic as compared to the third point
and the third point indicates a higher degree
as compared to the fourth and so on.
Numbers for measuring the distinctions of
degree in the attitudes/opinions are, thus,
assigned to individuals corresponding to
their scale-positions.

Scaling has been defined as a “procedure for

the assignment of numbers (or other
symbols ) to a property of objects in order to
impart some of the characteristics of
numbers to the properties in question. ”
Scale Properties
Nominal
NominalScales
Scales

Ordinal
OrdinalScales
Scales

Interval
IntervalScales
Scales

Ratio
RatioScales
Scales
Scale Properties:
In nominal scale the numbers serve only as labels
or tags for identifying and classifying objects.
The ordinal scale is a ranking scale in which
numbers are assigned to objects to indicate the
relative extent to which the objects possess some
characteristic.
In interval scale numerically equal distances on the
scale represent equal values in the characteristic
being measured.
The ratio scale possesses all the properties of the
nominal, ordinal, and interval scales. It has an
absolute zero point.
Nominal Scale
 A nominal scale is the simplest of the four scale
types and in which the numbers or letters
assigned to objects serve as labels for
identification or classification.

 Example:

 Males = 1, Females = 2
 Sales Zone A = Islamabad, Sales Zone B = Rawalpindi
 Drink A = Pepsi Cola, Drink B = 7-Up, Drink C =
Miranda
Ordinal Scale:
Ordinal measurements describe order, but not
relative size or degree of difference between the
items measured.
In this scale type,the numbers assigned to objects or
events represent the rank order (1st,2nd,3rd,etc) of the
entities assessed.
A likert scale is a type of ordinal scale and may also
use names with an order such as:
❖ “Bad”, “medium” and “good”
❖ “very satisfied”, “satisfied”, “neutral”,
“unsatisfied”,
“very unsatisfied”
Example of an ordinal scale:

The result of a horse race, which says only

which horses arrived first, second, or third
but include no information about race times.

Another example is military rank; they have

an order, but no well defined numerical
difference between ranks.
 Examples of Ordinal:

 Career Opportunities = Moderate, Good, Excellent

 Investment Climate = Bad, inadequate, fair, good, very
good
 Merit = A grade, B grade, C grade, D grade

A problem with ordinal scales is that the difference

between categories on the scale is hard to quantify, ie.,
excellent is better than good but how much is excellent
better?
Interval Scale
 An interval scale is a scale that not only arranges
objects or alternatives according to their
respective magnitudes, but also distinguishes this
ordered arrangement in units of equal intervals
(i.e. interval scales indicate order (as in ordinal
scales) and also the distance in the order).

 Examples:
 Temperature Scale in Fahrenheit

Interval scales allow comparisons of the differences of

magnitude (e.g. of attitudes) but do not allow
determinations of the actual strength of the magnitude.
Ratio Scale
 A ratio scale is a scale that possesses absolute
rather than relative qualities and has an absolute
zero.

 Examples:
 Money
 Weight
 Distance
 Temperature on the Kelvin Scale

Interval scales allow comparisons of the differences of

magnitude (e.g. of attitudes) as well as determinations of
the actual strength of the magnitude.
Scale Classification Bases
The number of assigning procedures or the
scaling
procedures may be broadly classified on the
following
bases:
 Subject orientation
 Response form
 Degree of subjectivity
 Scale properties
 Number of dimensions
 Scale construction techniques
Subject Orientation:
Under it a scale may be designed to measure
characteristics of the respondent who
completes it or to judge the stimulus object
which is presented to the respondent.
In respect of the former, we presume that the
stimuli presented are sufficiently
homogeneous so that the between stimuli
variation is small as compared to the
variation among respondents.
In the latter approach, we ask the
respondent to judge some specific object in
terms of one or more dimensions and we
presume that the between-respondent
variation will be small as compared to the
variation among the different stimuli
presented to respondents for judging.
Response form:
Under this we may classify the scales as
categorical and comparative.

Categorical scales are also known as rating

scales. These scales are used when a
respondent scores some object without direct
reference to other objects.

Under comparative scales, which are also

known as ranking scales, the respondent is
asked to compare two or more objects.
Degree of subjectivity:
With this basis the scale date may be based
on whether we measure subjective personal
preferences or simply make non-preference
judgements.
In the former case , the respondent is asked
to choose which person he favours or which
solution he would like to see employed,
whereas in the latter case he is simply asked
to judge which person is more effective in
some aspect or which solution will take fewer
resources without reflecting any personal
preference.
Number of dimensions:
In respect of this basis, scales can be
classified as ‘ unidimensional’ and
‘multidimensional’ scales.

Under the former we measure only one

attribute of the respondent or object,
whereas multidimensional scaling
recognizes that an object might be
described better by using the concept of
an attribute space of ‘n’ dimensions, rather
than a single-dimension continuum.
Scale construction techniques:
Following are the five main techniques by
which scales can be developed.

 Arbitrary approach
 Consensus approach
 Item analysis approach

 Cumulative scales
 Factor scales
Arbitrary approach:
It is an approach where scale is developed on
ad hoc basis. This is the most widely used
approach. It is presumed that such scales
measure the concepts for which they have
been designed, although there is little
evidence to support such an assumption.

Consensus approach:
Here a panel of judges evaluate the items
chosen for inclusion in the instrument in
terms of whether they are relevant to the
topic area and unambiguous in implication.
Item analysis approach:
Under it a number of individual items are
developed into a test which is given to a
group of respondents.

After administering the test ,the total scores

are calculated for everyone.

Individual items are then analyzed to

determine which items discriminate
between persons or objects with high total
scores and those with low scores.
Cumulative Scales:
Cumulative scales or Louis Guttman’s
scalogram analysis, like other scales, consist
of series of statements to which a respondent
expresses his agreement or disagreement.
Factor Scales
Factor scales are developed through factor
analysis or on the basis of intercorrelations of
items which indicate that a common factor
accounts for the relationships between items.

An important factor scale based on factor

analysis is
✸ Semantic Differential(S.D), and
✸ Multidimensional Scaling.
Scale construction Techniques

Arbitrary approach - scales on ad hoc basis

Consensus approach- panel of judges evaluate
Item analysis approach- individual items into
test
Cumulative scales - ranking of items
Factor scales – inter correlation of items
Important Scaling Techniques
The important scaling techniques often used
in the context of research specially in context
of social or business research are as follows:

Rating Scales

Ranking Scales
Rating Scales:
 The rating scale involves qualitative
description of a limited number of aspects of
a thing or of traits of a person.
 These ratings may be in such forms as “like-
dislike”, “ above average, average, below
average” etc.
 There is no specific rule whether to use a
two-points scale, three-point scale or scale
with still more points.
 In practice, three to seven points scales are
generally used for the simple reason that
more points on a scale provide an opportunity
Graphic rating scale
The graphic rating scale is quite simple and
is commonly used in practice. Under it the
various points are usually put along the line
to form a continuum and the rater indicates
his rating by simply making a mark (such as
✔ ) at the appropriate point on a line that
runs from one extreme to the other.

The following is an example of five-points

graphic rating scale when we wish to
ascertain people’s liking or disliking any
product:
 How do you like
the product?

Like Like some Neutral Dislike some Dislike very

very what what much
much
Graphic Rating Scale
Graphic Rating Scales

12-31
Itemized rating scale:
The itemized rating scale(also known as
numerical scale) presents a series of
statements from which a respondent selects
one as best reflecting his evaluation.
Suppose we wish to inquire as to how well
does a worker get along with his fellow
workers?
In such a situation we may ask the
respondent to select one, to express his
opinion, from the following:
He is almost always involved in some friction
with a fellow worker.
He is often at odds with one or more of his
fellow workers.
He sometimes gets involved in friction.
He infrequently becomes involved in friction
with others.
He almost never gets involved in friction with
fellow workers.
Selected Itemized Rating Scales

PURCHASE INTENT

Definitely Probably Probably will Definitely will

will buy will buy not buy not buy

LEVEL OF AGREEMENT
Strongly Somewhat Neither Somewhat Strongly
agree agree agree disagree
disagree
nor
disagree
 QUALITY
Very Good Neither good Fair
Poor
Good nor bad

DEPENDABILITY
Completely Somewhat Not very Not dependable
Dependable dependable dependable at all

STYLE
Very Somewhat Not very Completely
stylish stylish stylish unstylish
 SATISFACTION
Completely Somewhat Neither satisfied Somewhat
Completely
Satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied dissatisfied
dissatisfied

COST
Extremely Expensive Neither expensive Slightly
Very
Expensive nor inexpensive inexpensive
inexpensive

EASE OF USE

Very easy Somewhat Not very easy

Difficult to use
 COLOR BRIGHTNESS
Extremely Very Somewhat Slightly
Not bright
Bright bright bright bright
at all

MODERNITY
Very Somewhat Neither Somewhat
Very
Modern modern modern old-fashioned
old-fashioned
nor
old-fashioned
Ranking Scales:
There are two generally used approaches of
ranking scales viz.,
 Method of paired comparisons
 Method of rank order
Method of paired comparisons:
Under it the respondent can express his
attitude by making a choice between two
objects, say between a new flavour of soft
drinks and an established brand of drink.
But when there are more than two stimuli
to judge, the number of judgements
required in a paired comparison is given
by the formula:

N= n(n-1)
2
Where N=number of judgements

n=number of stimuli or objects to

be judged.
 Obtaining Shampoo Preferences
Using Paired Comparisons
Instructions: We are going to present you with ten pairs
of shampoo brands. For each pair, please indicate which
one of the two brands of shampoo you would prefer for
personal use. J hirmack Finesse Vidal Head & Pert
Sassoon Shoulders
Recording Form:
J hirmack 0 0 1 0
Finesse 1a 0 1 0
Vidal Sassoon 1 1 1 1
Head & Shoulders 0 0 0 0
Pert 1 1 0 1
Number of Times 3 2 0 4 1
Preferredb
a
A 1 in a particular box means that the brand in that column was
preferred over the brand in the corresponding row. A 0 means that
the row brand was preferred over the column brand. bThe number
of times a brand was preferred is obtained by summing the 1s in
each column.
 Paired Comparison Selling
The most common method of taste testing is paired
comparison. The consumer is asked to sample two different
products and select the one with the most appealing taste.
The test is done in private and a minimum of 1,000 responses
is considered an adequate sample. A blind taste test for a soft
drink, where imagery, self-perception and brand reputation
are very important factors in the consumer’s purchasing
decision, may not be a good indicator of performance in the
marketplace. The introduction of New Coke illustrates this
point. New Coke was heavily favored in blind paired
comparison taste tests, but its introduction was less than
successful, because image plays a major role in the purchase
of Coke.

A paired comparison
taste test
Comparative Scaling Techniques
Rank Order Scaling
Respondents are presented with several
objects simultaneously and asked to order or
rank them according to some criterion.
It is possible that the respondent may dislike
the brand ranked 1 in an absolute sense.
Furthermore, rank order scaling also results
in ordinal data.
Only (n - 1) scaling decisions need be made in
rank order scaling.
Preference for Toothpaste Brands
Using Rank Order Scaling

Instructions: Rank the various brands of toothpaste in

order of preference. Begin by picking out the one
brand that you like most and assign it a number 1.
Then find the second most preferred brand and assign
it a number 2. Continue this procedure until you have
ranked all the brands of toothpaste in order of
preference. The least preferred brand should be
assigned a rank of 10.
No two brands should receive the same rank number.
The criterion of preference is entirely up to you. There
is no right or wrong answer. Just try to be consistent.
Preference for Toothpaste Brands Using Rank Order
Scaling
Form
Brand Rank Order
1. Crest _________
2. Colgate _________
3. Aim _________
4. Gleem _________
5. Macleans _________

6. Ultra Brite _________

7. Close Up _________
8. Pepsodent _________
9. Plus White _________
10. Stripe _________