Chapter Eight

Measurement and Scaling:

Fundamentals and Comparative
Scaling
 8-2

Measurement and Scaling

Measurement means assigning numbers or other
symbols to characteristics of objects according to
certain prespecified rules.
 One-to-one correspondence between the numbers

and the characteristics being measured.

 The rules for assigning numbers should be

standardized and applied uniformly.

 Rules must not change over objects or time.
 8-3

Measurement and Scaling

Scaling involves creating a continuum (range) upon
which measured objects are located.

 Consider an attitude scale from 1 to 100. Each

respondent is assigned a number from 1 to 100, with 1 =
Extremely Unfavorable, and 100 = Extremely Favorable.
 Measurement is the actual assignment of a number from
1 to 100 to each respondent.
 Scaling is the process of placing the respondents on a
continuum (range) with respect to their attitude toward
department stores.
 8-4

Primary Scales of Measurement

Scale Figure 8.1
Nominal Numbers Finish
Assigned
7 8 3
to Runners

Ordinal Rank Order Finish

of Winners
Third Second First
place place place

Interval Performance
Rating on a 8.2 9.1 9.6
0 to 10 Scale

Ratio Time to 15.2 14.1 13.4

Finish, in
Seconds
 Primary Scales of Measurement 8-5

Nominal Scale
 A scale whose numbers serve only as labels or tags for
identifying and classifying objects with strict one-to-one
correspondence between the numbers and the objects.
 Each number is assigned to only one object and each object has
only one number assigned to it.
 The numbers do not reflect the amount of the characteristic
possessed by the objects.
 Common examples include number assigned to football player,
cricket player or students.
 In marketing research, nominal scales are used for identifying
respondents, brands, attributes, stores and other objects.
 The only permissible operation on the numbers in a nominal
scale is counting. Only a limited number of statistics, all of which
are based on frequency counts, are permissible, e.g.,
percentages, and mode.
 Primary Scales of Measurement 8-6

Ordinal Scale
 A ranking scale in which numbers are assigned to objects to
indicate the relative extent to which the objects possess some
characteristic.
 It is possible determine whether an object has more or less of a
characteristic than some other object, but not how much more or
less. Thus an ordinal scale indicates relative position, not the
magnitude of the differences between the objects.
 The object ranked first has more of the characteristic as
compared to the object ranked second, but whether the object
ranked second is a close second or a poor second is not known.
 Any series of numbers can be assigned that preserves the
ordered relationships between the objects.
 In addition to the counting operation allowable for nominal scale
data, ordinal scales permit the use of statistics based on centiles,
e.g., percentile, quartile, median.
 Primary Scales of Measurement 8-7

Interval Scale
 A scale in which the numbers are used to rate objects such that
numerically equal distances on the scale represent equal
distances in the characteristic being measured.
 An interval scale contains all the information of an ordinal scale,
but it also allows you to compare the difference between
objects.
 A common example in everyday life is a temperature scale.
 The location of the zero point is not fixed. Both the zero point
and the units of measurement are arbitrary.
 Any positive linear transformation of the form y = a + bx will
preserve the properties of the scale.
 Statistical techniques that may be used include all of those that
can be applied to nominal and ordinal data, and in addition the
arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and other statistics
commonly used in marketing research.
 Primary Scales of Measurement 8-8

Ratio Scale

 The highest scale. It allows the researcher to identify or

classify objects, rank order the objects and compare
intervals or differences. It is meaningful to compute ratios
of scale values.
 Ratio scale possesses all the properties of the nominal,
ordinal, and interval scales and in addition, an absolute
zero point.
 Only proportionate transformations of the form y = bx,
where b is a positive constant, are allowed.
 All statistical techniques can be applied to ratio data.
 8-9

Primary Scales of Measurement

Table 8.1

Scale Basic Common Marketing Permissible Statistics

Characteristics Examples Examples Descriptive Inferential
Nominal Numbers identify Social Security Brand nos., store Percentages, Chi-square,
& classify objects nos., numbering types mode binomial test
of football players
Ordinal Nos. indicate the Quality rankings, Preference Percentile, Rank-order
relative positions rankings of teams rankings, market median correlation,
of objects but not in a tournament position, social Friedman
the magnitude of class ANOVA
differences
between them
Interval Differences Temperature Attitudes, Range, mean, Product-
between objects (Fahrenheit) opinions, index standard moment
Ratio Zero point is fixed, Length, weight Age, sales, Geometric Coefficient of
ratios of scale income, costs mean, harmonic variation
values can be mean
compared
 8-10

Illustration of Primary Scales of Measurement

Table 8.2

Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio

Scale Scale Scale Scale
Preference Preference $ spent last
No. Store Rankings Ratings 3 months
1-7 11-17
1. Lord & Taylor 7 79 5 15 0
2. Macy’s 2 25 7 17 200
3. Kmart 8 82 4 14 0
4. Rich’s 3 30 6 16 100
5. J.C. Penney 1 10 7 17 250
6. Neiman Marcus 5 53 5 15 35
7. Target 9 95 4 14 0
8. Saks Fifth Avenue 6 61 5 15 100
9. Sears 4 45 6 16 0
10.Wal-Mart 10 115 2 12 10
 8-11

A Classification of Scaling Techniques

Figure 8.2

Scaling Techniques

Comparative Noncomparative
Scales Scales

Paired Rank Constant Q-Sort and Continuous Itemized

Comparison Order Sum Other Rating Scales Rating Scales
Procedures

Semantic Stapel
Likert
Differential