OL15-WEEK 8

Chapter 8
Operationalization and Measurement of Variables

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 CHAPTER OUTLINE:

1. Operationalization of variables: operational definition

2. How variables are measured
3. Four types of scales: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio
4. Response technique: rating and ranking scales
5. Goodness of measures: Reliability and Validity

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

www.wiley.com/college/sekaran
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 Operationalizing Concepts

• Operationalizing concepts: reduction of abstract concepts to

render them measurable in a tangible way.

• Operationalizing is done by looking at the behavioural

dimensions, facets, or properties denoted by the concept.

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 (Characteristics of) Objects
• Objects include persons, strategic business units, companies, countries, kitchen
appliances, restaurants, shampoo, yogurt and so on.

• Examples of characteristics of objects are arousal seeking tendency, achievement

motivation, organizational effectiveness, shopping enjoyment, length, weight, ethnic
diversity, service quality, conditioning effects and taste.

• You cannot measure objects (for instance, a company); you measure characteristics
or attributes of objects (for instance, the organizational effectiveness of a company).

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

www.wiley.com/college/sekaran
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 Types of Variables
• Two types of variables:
– One lends itself to objective and precise measurement;
– The other is more nebulous and does not lend itself to accurate
measurement because of its abstract and subjective nature.

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 Operationalizing Concepts
• Operationalizing a concept involves a series of steps:
i. come up with a definition of the construct that you want to measure.
ii. think about the content of the measure; that is, an instrument (one or
more items or questions) that actually measures the concept that one
wants to measure has to be developed.
iii. a response format (for instance, a seven-point rating scale with end-
points anchored by “strongly disagree” and “strongly agree”) is needed
iv. the validity and reliability of the measurement scale has to be assessed.

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 Operational Definitions

How can we define the variable “class

level of students”?

• Year 1 • < 36 credit hours

• Year 2 • 36 - 70 credit hours
• Year 3 • 71 - 105 credit hours
• Year 4 • > 105 credit hours

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 Operationalization
A generalized idea about a class of objects, attributes,
occurrences, or processes e.g. satisfaction, loyalty

Gives meaning to a concept by specifying the activities

or operations necessary to measure it

Broad characteristics to ensure coverage or scope of the

concept

Specific items about the identified measurement, which

are easily measured

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Example

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Operationalizing Learning

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Example

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 What operationalization is not
• Operationalizing a concept does not consist of delineating the reasons, antecedents,
consequences, or correlates of the concept.
• Rather, it describes its observable characteristics of the concept.

• ex. Success in performance cannot be a dimension of achievement motivation, even though

a motivated person is likely to meet with it in large measure. Thus, achievement motivation
and performance and/or success may be highly correlated, but we cannot measure an
individual’s level of motivation through success and performance. Performance and success
may have been made possible as a consequence of achievement motivation, but in and of
themselves, the two are not measures of it.

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 Measurement

• The assignment of numbers or other symbols to characteristics

(or attributes) of objects according to a pre-specified set of
rules.

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 Scales
• Scale is a tool or mechanism by which individuals are distinguished as to how they
differ from one another on the variables of interest to our study.

• 4 types:
i. Nominal - collect information on a variable by grouping the data into two or more categories
that are mutually exclusive.
ii. Ordinal - allow comparisons of the degree of the variable each has.
iii. Interval - consists of the character of nominal and ordinal scales plus additional strength that
the distance between each number is equal.
iv. Ratio - differs from interval scales, since zero brings specific meaning.

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 Nominal Scale
• A nominal scale is one that allows the researcher to assign subjects to certain categories or groups.

• What is your department?

O Marketing O Maintenance O Finance
O Production O Servicing O Personnel
O Sales O Public Relations O Accounting

• What is your gender?

O Male
O Female

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Nominal Scale

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 Ordinal Scale
• Ordinal scale: not only categorizes variables in such a way as to denote differences
among various categories, it also rank-orders categories in some meaningful way.

• What is the highest level of education you have completed?

O Less than High School
O High School/GED Equivalent
O College Degree
O Masters Degree
O Doctoral Degree

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Ordinal Scale

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 Interval Scale

• Interval scale: whereas the nominal scale allows us only to

qualitatively distinguish groups by categorizing them into
mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive sets, and the
ordinal scale to rank-order the preferences, the interval scale
lets us measure the distance between any two points on the
scale.

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 Interval scale
• Circle the number that represents your feelings at this particular moment best. There are no right or wrong
answers. Please answer every question.

1. I invest more in my work than I get out of it

I disagree completely 1 2 3 4 5 I agree completely

2. I exert myself too much considering what I get back in return

I disagree completely 1 2 3 4 5 I agree completely

3. For the efforts I put into the organization, I get much in return

I disagree completely 1 2 3 4 5 I agree completely

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Interval scale

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 Ratio Scale
• Ratio scale: overcomes the disadvantage of the arbitrary origin
point of the interval scale, in that it has an absolute (in contrast
to an arbitrary) zero point, which is a meaningful measurement
point.

• What is your age?

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Ratio Scale

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 Properties of the Four Scales
• Insert Table 12.1 here

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 Tips on how to determine the scale
No Nominal
Qs: Data in
order?
No
(Alphanumeric) Yes Ordinal
Qs: Data
consist only
numbers?
No Interval
Yes
Qs: 0 = 0?

Yes Ratio

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 International dimensions of scaling
• Apart from sensitivity to operational definition of concepts in other cultures, the issue of
scaling also needs to be addressed in cross-cultural research.

• Different cultures react differently to issues of scaling. For instance, a five-point or a seven-
point scale may make no difference in the United States, but could in the responses of
subjects in other countries (see Sekaran & Martin, 1982; Sekaran & Trafton, 1978).

• Barry (1969), for instance, found that in some countries, a seven-point scale is more
sensitive than a four-point scale in eliciting unbiased responses.

• Recent research has shown that people from different countries differ in both their
tendency to use the extremes of the rating scale (for instance 1 and 5 or 1 and 7) and to
respond in a socially desirable way (De Jong, 2006).

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

www.wiley.com/college/sekaran
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Exercise 1 (during class)

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 Exercise 2 (take home)
• Refer Main Textbook: Business Research Methods (Borges et.al, 2020)
• Question: 1 & 2
• Page: 113

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