Rajdeep Chakraborti

Measurement and Scales

2
Basic Question Formats
Various Question Formats
Basic
Open-ended
Questions
Probing
Questions
Clarifying
Questions
Open-ended
Questions
Dichotomous
Questions
Single-coded
Multiple-coded
Multiple-Choice
Responses
Closed-ended
Questions
Labeled
Questions
Unlabeled
Questions
Scaled
Questions
Basic
Question Formats
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Basic Open Ended Questions.
Q. What do you particularly like about Lipton Tea?
______________________________________________________________________________
Q. Why are you unwilling to buy a cellular phone when it is available in the market?

________________________________________________________________________
Probing Questions
Q. What do you particularly like about Johnson & Johnson baby oil?
__________________________________________________________________________
PROBE: Anything else?
OPEN-ENDED QUESTI ONS: Questions to which respondents
give their responses freely, according to their own will.
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Advantages and disadvantages of
Open-ended Questions
Advantages
Since they do not restrict the
respondents response, the
widest scope of response can be
attained.
Most appropriate where the
range of possible responses is
broad, or cannot be
predetermined.
Less subject to interviewer bias.
Responses may often be used as
direct quotes to bring realism
and life to the written report.
Disadvantages
Inappropriate for self-administered
questionnaire since people tend to
write more briefly than they speak.
The interviewer may only record a
summary of the responses given by
an interview and fail to capture the
the interviewers own ideas.
It is difficult to categorize and
summarize the diverse responses of
different respondents.
May annoy a respondent and
prompt him/her to terminate the
interview, or ignore the mail
questionnaire.
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Dichotomous Questions With No Neutral Response
_________________________________________________
Q. Do you have a cellular phone?
Yes ...................................... 1 without neutral
No ...................................... 2 response
Dichotomous Questions With Neutral Response
Q. Is it likely that you will purchase a cellular phone in the next
six months?
Yes ...................................... 1 with neutral
No ...................................... 2 response
Not Sure .............................. 3
CLOSED-ENDED QUESTI ONS: Questions to which respondents
are required to answer from set of alternative responses provided by
the researcher. Could be dichotomous or multiple choice.
6
Single- and multi-coded multiple choice questions
_____________________________________________________________________
Q. On an average, how much do you spend on newspapers, books and magazines in a
month? (Please check one from the following responses.)
Less than $15 ................................... 1 Single-coded
Between $16 & $30 ....................... 2 question
Between $31 & $45 ....................... 3
Between $46 & $60 ....................... 4
$60 or more ................................... 5
Q. Which of the following household appliances does your household have?
(Please check as many responses that are applicable to you.)
TV 1 VCR 5
LCD .2 Microwave . 6 Multi-coded
PC 3 Cellular phone .7 question
Fax 4 Others .8
Specify ____________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__
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Advantages and Disadvantages of
Closed-ended Questions
ADVANTAGES
All respondents reply on a
standard response set. This
ensures comparability of
responses, facilitates coding,
tabulating and interpreting the
data.
Easier to administer and most
suited for self-administered
questionnaire.
If used in interviews, less
skilled interviewer may be
engaged to do the job.
DISADVANTAGES
Preparing the list of
responses is time-
consuming.
If the list of responses is
long, the respondents may
be confused.
If the list of responses is
not comprehensive,
responses may often fail to
represent the respondents
point of views.
Basic Measurement Issues
Measurement is the process of assigning numbers or
labels to objects, persons, states, or events in accordance
with specific rules to represent quantities or qualities of
attributes.
We do not measure specific objects, persons, etc., we measure attributes
or features that define them.

Ex. What defines the person Brent Wren? What is a students level of
education? How customer oriented is our company?

Overriding Goal: To provide a valid and reliable
description or enumeration of the person, objects, issue, etc.
Accuracy of Measurements
Why do scores on a measurement scale differ?
A true difference in the characteristic being
measured.
Short-term personal factors (e.g., moods, time
constraints)
Situational factors (e.g., surroundings)
Variations in method of administering survey.
Sampling of items included in the questionnaire.
Lack of clarity in the measurement instrument.
Mechanical or instrument factors causing
completion errors.
Basic Measurement Issues
Concept or Construct
A generalized idea about a class of objects, attributes,
occurrences, or processes
Concrete demographics, traffic patterns, purchase
quantity
Abstract loyalty, personality, satisfaction, leadership
Attribute
A single characteristic or fundamental feature of an
object, person, situation, or issue
Often measure multiple attributes

Measurement Process
1. Define concepts to be measured
2. Define attributes of the concepts
3. Select scale of measurement (data type)
4. Generate Items/Questions
Wording
Response format
5. Layout and design questionnaire
6. Pretest and refine
Nominal Scales
Ordinal Scales
Interval Scales
Ratio Scales
Four Basic Scales of Measurement
Nominal Scales
Nominal scales focus on only requiring a
respondent to provide some type of
descriptor as the raw response
Example.
Please indicate your current martial status.
__Married __ Single __ Single, never married __ Widowed
Ordinal Scales
Ordinal scales allow the respondent to express
relative magnitude between the raw responses to
a question
Example.
Which one statement best describes your opinion of an Intel PC
processor?
__ Higher than AMDs PC processor
__ About the same as AMDs PC processor
__ Lower than AMDs PC processor

Interval Scales
Interval scales demonstrate the absolute differences
between each scale point
Example.
How likely are you to recommend the Santa Fe Grill to a friend?
Definitely will not Definitely will
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ratio Scales
Ratio scales allow for the identification of absolute
differences between each scale point, and absolute
comparisons between raw responses
Example 1.
Please circle the number of children under 18 years of age currently
living in your household.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (if more than 7, please specify ___.)
Criteria for
Scale Selection
Understanding of the questions
Discriminatory power of scale descriptors
Balanced versus unbalanced scales
Forced or nonforced choice scales
Desired measure of central tendency and
dispersion

Generate Items
Items are basically questions
Need to ensure that enough questions are asked to
generate information necessary to address research
problems.
Likely will have a mix of question types and
scales of measurement
Multi-item, Composite or Index Measures
A measurement scale containing multiple questions
addressing same construct or attribute


Some Approaches to Measuring Hypothetical Constructs
(e.g. Attitudes)
Following are approaches that have been used to measure physiological and
psychological constructs:
1. Physiological Measures, e.g.:
Galvanic skin response (Galvanometer).
Eye Movement (Eye-tracking equipment).
Voice-pitch levels.
2. Observation of overt behavior.
3. Indirect (Projective) techniques (aimed at recovering the thoughts, images and
fantasies associated with motivation and our emotional side while preserving our self-
esteem and avoid anxiety)
4. Subjects self-reports
a) Choice
b) Ranking
c) Sorting
d) Rating
Attitude rating scales
Selecting a measurement scale

Rating Scales
Measurement scales that allow a respondent to
register the degree (or amount) of a characteristic or
attribute possessed by an object directly on the
scale.

Six main types of rating scales:
1. Category scale
2. Semantic differential scale
3. Stapel scale
4. Likert scale (Summated ratings scale)
5. Constant sum scale
6. Graphic scale
Category Scale
A rating scale which the response options provided for a
closed-ended question are labeled with specific verbal
descriptions.
Example:
Please rate car model A on each of the following dimensions:
Poor Fair Good V.good Excellent
a)Durability [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
b)Fuel consumption [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Characteristics:
Response options are still verbal descriptions.
Response categories are usually ordered according to a particular descriptive or
evaluative dimension.
Therefore scale has ordinal properties.
However, researchers often assume that it possesses interval properties => but
this is only an assumption.


Simple Category Scale
A category scale with only two response categories
(or scale points) both of which are labeled.
Example:
Please rate brand A on each of the following
dimensions:
poor excellent
a) Durability [ ] [ ]
b) Fuel consumption [ ] [ ]
Semantic Differential Scale
A rating scale in which bipolar adjectives are placed at both
ends (or poles) of the scale, and response options are
expressed as semantic space.
Example:
Please rate car model A on each of the following dimensions:
Durable ---:-X-:---:---:---:---:--- Not durable
Low fuel consumption ---:---:---:---:---:-X-:--- High fuel consumption

Characteristics
1. The scale has properties of an interval scale.
2. Sometimes descriptive phrases are used instead of bipolar
adjectives, especially when it is difficult to get adjectives that
are exact opposites
3. It is often used to construct an image profile.

Stapel Scale
A simplified version of the semantic differential scale in which a
single adjective or descriptive phrase is used instead of bipolar
adjectives.

Characteristics
1. The scale measures both the direction and intensity of the attribute
simultaneously.
2. It has properties similar to the semantic differential.

Example:
Model A
-3 -2 -1 Durable Car 1 2 3
-3 -2 -1 Good Fuel Consumption 1 2 3
Constant-Sum Scale
A rating scale in which respondents divide a constant sum
among different attributes of an object (usually to indicate
the relative importance of each attribute).
Assumed to have ratio level properties.

Example: Divide 100 points among the following dimensions to
indicate their level of importance to you when you purchase
a car:

Durability
Fuel Consumption
Total 100
Numerical Scale
Any rating scale in which numbers rather than semantic
space or verbal descriptions are used as response
options.

Examples:
Poor Excellent
Durability 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Durable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Not durable
Graphic Ratings Scales
Rating scales in which respondents rate an object on
a graphic continuum, usually a straight line.
Modified version is the happy face scale.

Characteristics
1. The straight line scale has ratio level properties.
2. The ladder and happy face scales have properties
depending on the labeling option chosen whether
all response categories are labeled (ordinal
properties) or only the scale end-points are labeled
(interval properties).
Graphic Ratings Scale
The Likert Scale (Summated Ratings Scale)
A multiple item rating scale in which the degree of an attribute
possessed by an object is determined by asking respondents to
agree or disagree with a series of positive and/or negative
statements describing the object.
Example:
Totally
disagree Disagree Neutral Agree
Totally
agree
a) Shopping takes much longer on the Internet [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
b) It is a good thing that Saudi consumers have
the opportunity to buy products through the [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
c) Buying products over the Internet is not a
sensible thing to do [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Attitude toward buying from the Internet
Characteristics of the Likert Scale
The following procedure is used to analyze data from Likert
scales:
1. First, weights are assigned to the responses options, e.g. Totally
agree=1, Agree=2, etc
2. Then negatively-worded statements are reverse-coded (or reverse
scored). E.g. a score of 2 for a negatively-worded statement with a
5-point response options is equivalent to a score of 4 on an
equivalent positive statement.
3. Next, scores are summed across statements to arrive at a total (or
summated) score.
4. Each respondents score can then be compared with the mean
score or the scores of other respondents to determine his level of
attitude, loyalty, or other construct that is being measured
Note that the response for each individual statement is expressed
on a category scale.
Hard to attach a verbal
explanation to response
Visual impact, easy for
poor readers
Choose a visual picture 8. Graphic scale-picture
response
No standard answers Visual impact, unlimited
scale points
Choose a point on a
continuum
7. Graphic scale
Endpoints are numerical,
not verbal.
Easier to construct than
semantic differential
Choose point on scale
with 1 center adjective
6. Stapel scale
Difficult for respondents
with low education levels
Scale approximates an
interval measure
Divide a construct sum
among response
alternatives
5. Constant sum scale
Bipolar adjectives must be
found, data may be
ordinal, not interval
Easy to construct, norms
exist for comparison, e.g.
profile analysis
Choose points between
bipolar adjectives on
relative dimensions
4. Semantic differential
and numerical scales
Hard to judge what a
single score means
Easiest scale to construct Evaluate statements on a
5-point scale
3. Likert scale
Ambiguous items, few
categories, only gross
distinction.
Flexible, easy to respond Indicate a response
category
2.Category scale
1. Simple attitude scaling
Disadvantages Advantages Subject must: Rating Scale
Characteristics Different Types of Rating Scales
Issues In Selecting A Measurement Scale
1. Whether to use single or index measure.
2. Whether to use a ranking, sorting, choice, or rating scale.
3. Whether to use monadic or comparative scale.
Monadic rating scale is one in which respondents evaluate an object
in isolation
Comparative scale s one in which the object is evaluated in relation
to other objects
Construction and labeling is different for monadic and comparative
scales
4. Whether to use category labels or not.
5. If the decision is to use category labels, what labels to use.
Issues In Selecting A Measurement Scale
6. Number of response options (scale categories) to use, i.e
whether to use 2, 3, 4, 5, etc response categories
In general, the larger the number of categories the more sensitive the
scale is; but also the more difficult it is for respondents to answer

7. Whether to use balanced or unbalanced scale.
A balanced scale has an equal number of points to the left and right of
a mid-point. An unbalanced scale has more response options on one
side than the other

8. Whether the scale should force choice among the response
categories, i.e should the scale contain a neutral or dont
know category.

Thank You !